Home Federal Bank of Tennessee Grows Stock Holdings in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Home Federal Bank of Tennessee boosted its stake in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 1.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 24,542 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the quarter. Home Federal Bank of Tennessee’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $1,764,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 21.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 49,297,505 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,016,023,000 after purchasing an additional 8,733,326 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 30.5% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 12,698,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $776,924,000 after acquiring an additional 2,964,850 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Coca-Cola in the second quarter valued at approximately $188,448,000. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in Coca-Cola during the 1st quarter worth approximately $157,087,000. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 42.6% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 6,245,331 shares of the company’s stock worth $397,515,000 after acquiring an additional 1,866,348 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on KO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Coca-Cola from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Coca-Cola from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Coca-Cola in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $72.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Coca-Cola presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James Quincey sold 102,533 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.02, for a total transaction of $7,179,360.66. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 442,546 shares in the company, valued at $30,987,070.92. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Coca-Cola news, CEO James Quincey sold 102,533 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.02, for a total value of $7,179,360.66. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 442,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,987,070.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Nancy Quan sold 18,484 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.50, for a total transaction of $1,321,606.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 223,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,968,095. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 356,792 shares of company stock worth $24,728,364 in the last quarter. 0.97% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Coca-Cola Trading Down 0.0 %

NYSE:KO traded down $0.02 on Tuesday, hitting $69.43. 3,321,774 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,111,512. The stock has a market cap of $299.10 billion, a PE ratio of 27.78, a PEG ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.60. The Coca-Cola Company has a fifty-two week low of $54.04 and a fifty-two week high of $73.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $70.73 and a 200-day moving average of $65.87.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 43.62% and a net margin of 22.92%. The firm had revenue of $12.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. Coca-Cola’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.485 per share. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is 77.60%.

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.