Fortress Financial Group LLC Invests $416,000 in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Fortress Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 6,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $416,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Motco grew its holdings in Coca-Cola by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Motco now owns 99,002 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,164,000 after purchasing an additional 767 shares during the last quarter. Pettyjohn Wood & White Inc. boosted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Pettyjohn Wood & White Inc. now owns 26,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,655,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Argyle Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Coca-Cola by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Argyle Capital Management LLC now owns 53,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,346,000 after buying an additional 511 shares during the last quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. increased its position in Coca-Cola by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 23,838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,484,000 after buying an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hilltop Partners LLC increased its position in Coca-Cola by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. Hilltop Partners LLC now owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,027,000 after buying an additional 2,898 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Coca-Cola

In other news, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 19,058 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.56, for a total transaction of $1,344,732.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 54,708 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.96, for a total transaction of $3,882,079.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 246,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,520,662.64. This trade represents a 18.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 232,646 shares of company stock valued at $16,515,469 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on KO. UBS Group boosted their price target on Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. DZ Bank raised shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $69.00 target price on shares of Coca-Cola in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $73.82.

Coca-Cola Stock Up 0.2 %

KO opened at $70.93 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $64.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $305.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.72, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.61. The Coca-Cola Company has a fifty-two week low of $57.93 and a fifty-two week high of $73.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share 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%. On average, research analysts expect that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.59%.

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.