Fernwood Investment Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Fernwood Investment Management LLC reduced its position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,773 shares of the company’s stock after selling 411 shares during the period. Fernwood Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $340,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in KO. Bill Few Associates Inc. raised its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bill Few Associates Inc. now owns 5,709 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,000 after buying an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp boosted its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 3.0% during the third quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 38,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,158,000 after purchasing an additional 1,125 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in Coca-Cola by 0.8% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,764,924 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,800,000 after acquiring an additional 14,729 shares in the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its stake in Coca-Cola by 1.1% in the third quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 1,243,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,584,000 after acquiring an additional 13,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mcdaniel Terry & Co. boosted its stake in Coca-Cola by 0.7% in the third quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 426,172 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,857,000 after acquiring an additional 3,166 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Coca-Cola

In other news, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 18,551 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.41, for a total value of $1,102,114.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 18,551 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.41, for a total transaction of $1,102,114.91. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Beatriz R. Perez sold 52,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $3,138,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 143,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,602,980. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 375,407 shares of company stock valued at $22,795,742. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.22.

Coca-Cola Stock Performance

Shares of Coca-Cola stock traded up $0.30 during trading on Monday, hitting $62.04. 13,417,406 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,989,353. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.13. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.89. The Coca-Cola Company has a 52-week low of $51.55 and a 52-week high of $64.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $267.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.99, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.59.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.01. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 23.42% and a return on equity of 42.50%. The company had revenue of $10.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.81 EPS for the current year.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.485 dividend. This is a boost from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.13%. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is presently 78.23%.

Coca-Cola Company Profile

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.