Retirement Systems of Alabama Reduces Stake in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Retirement Systems of Alabama reduced its position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO - Free Report) by 9.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,206,612 shares of the company's stock after selling 123,085 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama's holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $86,707,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of KO. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Coca-Cola during the second quarter worth $407,000. Naples Global Advisors LLC increased its position in Coca-Cola by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 26,403 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,692,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management raised its stake in Coca-Cola by 0.6% in the second quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 79,242 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,167,000 after buying an additional 443 shares during the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 69.7% in the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 452,944 shares of the company's stock worth $28,830,000 after acquiring an additional 185,976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 8.8% during the second quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,345 shares of the company's stock worth $986,000 after acquiring an additional 1,247 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on KO. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Cfra reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Coca-Cola to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Coca-Cola from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $72.50.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

Shares of Coca-Cola stock traded down $0.72 on Friday, hitting $63.12. The company's stock had a trading volume of 13,424,313 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,848,538. The company has a market capitalization of $271.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $65.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.06. The Coca-Cola Company has a 1 year low of $57.47 and a 1 year high of $73.53.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $11.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.61 billion. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 44.01% and a net margin of 22.45%. The business's revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Coca-Cola's dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $6,403,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 342,546 shares in the company, valued at $21,933,220.38. This represents a 22.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Coca-Cola

The Coca-Cola Company, a beverage company, manufactures, markets, and sells various nonalcoholic beverages worldwide. The company provides sparkling soft drinks, sparkling flavors; water, sports, coffee, and tea; juice, value-added dairy, and plant-based beverages; and other beverages. It also offers beverage concentrates and syrups, as well as fountain syrups to fountain retailers, such as restaurants and convenience stores.