Ieq Capital LLC Sells 62,440 Shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Ieq Capital LLC lowered its stake in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 33.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 126,573 shares of the company’s stock after selling 62,440 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $7,880,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of KO. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Coca-Cola by 13.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 92,961,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,680,205,000 after buying an additional 11,206,995 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Coca-Cola by 3.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 92,957,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,664,005,000 after buying an additional 2,966,964 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Coca-Cola by 14.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,615,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,271,885,000 after buying an additional 4,013,996 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Coca-Cola by 6.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,984,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,990,407,000 after buying an additional 1,609,565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in Coca-Cola by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 16,021,195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $997,480,000 after buying an additional 351,462 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on KO. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Coca-Cola from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. DZ Bank raised Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.82.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

Coca-Cola stock opened at $70.03 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $63.54 and its 200 day moving average is $66.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $301.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.61. The Coca-Cola Company has a one year low of $57.93 and a one year high of $73.53.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.04. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 45.37% and a net margin of 22.59%. As a group, research analysts expect that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

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.