Martin Capital Partners LLC Sells 28,593 Shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Martin Capital Partners LLC reduced its stake in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 90.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,130 shares of the company’s stock after selling 28,593 shares during the period. Martin Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $224,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Voleon Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,513,000. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 31.8% during the fourth quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 848,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,851,000 after purchasing an additional 204,681 shares in the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 10,484,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $652,767,000 after purchasing an additional 783,161 shares in the last quarter. StoneX Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 80.0% during the fourth quarter. StoneX Group Inc. now owns 51,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,224,000 after purchasing an additional 23,009 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fortress Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $416,000. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $76.00.

Coca-Cola Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE KO opened at $72.36 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $71.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.72. The Coca-Cola Company has a 52-week low of $60.62 and a 52-week high of $74.38. The firm has a market cap of $311.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.23 billion. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.59% and a return on equity of 45.37%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.60%.

Insider Transactions at Coca-Cola

In other Coca-Cola news, CEO James Quincey sold 266,403 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total value of $19,197,000.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 275,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,884,668.76. This represents a 49.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO John Murphy sold 88,658 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total transaction of $6,391,355.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 205,511 shares in the company, valued at $14,815,287.99. This trade represents a 30.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 415,387 shares of company stock worth $29,923,985. 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.