Sandy Spring Bank Has $3.58 Million Holdings in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Sandy Spring Bank lifted its position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 57,501 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,938 shares during the quarter. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $3,580,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KO. Rice Partnership LLC lifted its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Rice Partnership LLC now owns 102,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,397,000 after purchasing an additional 6,793 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 87.7% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 18,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,132,000 after acquiring an additional 8,499 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Coca-Cola by 14.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 4,013,996 shares during the last quarter. Clark & Stuart Inc bought a new position in shares of Coca-Cola in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,582,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 222.9% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 192,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,814,000 after buying an additional 132,701 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Coca-Cola from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Coca-Cola has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.24.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

Shares of Coca-Cola stock opened at $69.63 on Friday. The Coca-Cola Company has a twelve month low of $57.93 and a twelve month 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. The firm has a market cap of $299.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.57. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.55.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 dividend yield of 2.93%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.59%.

Insider Activity

In other Coca-Cola news, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 54,708 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.96, for a total value of $3,882,079.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 246,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,520,662.64. The trade was a 18.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 19,058 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.56, for a total value of $1,344,732.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 313,423 shares of company stock worth $22,263,071. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

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.