American Trust Purchases 1,771 Shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

American Trust increased its position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 11.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,573 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,771 shares during the quarter. American Trust’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $1,263,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Coca-Cola during the second quarter valued at about $407,000. Naples Global Advisors LLC grew 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 worth $1,692,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 443 shares during the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 69.7% during the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 452,944 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,830,000 after purchasing an additional 185,976 shares during the period. Finally, Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 8.8% in the second quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $986,000 after buying an additional 1,247 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Coca-Cola to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $6,403,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 342,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,933,220.38. This trade represents a 22.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.97% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Coca-Cola Stock Performance

KO stock opened at $63.84 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $275.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The Coca-Cola Company has a 1 year low of $57.47 and a 1 year high of $73.53. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $65.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.57.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $11.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.61 billion. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 44.01% and a net margin of 22.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Coca-Cola Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.04%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.17%.

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.