The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) Shares Sold by YHB Investment Advisors Inc.

YHB Investment Advisors Inc. cut its stake in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 15,754 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,518 shares during the quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $928,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 103,297.9% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 57,734,303 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,672,479,000 after acquiring an additional 57,678,466 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter worth about $2,937,315,000. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 79,101,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,031,669,000 after acquiring an additional 10,722,435 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 164.7% during the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,430,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $868,981,000 after acquiring an additional 8,979,379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 61.4% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,764,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $667,373,000 after acquiring an additional 4,095,881 shares during the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on Coca-Cola from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Barclays lifted their price target on Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Coca-Cola from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.18.

Coca-Cola Stock Performance

KO stock traded down $0.77 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $58.28. The company had a trading volume of 12,250,949 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,355,380. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $60.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.46. The Coca-Cola Company has a fifty-two week low of $51.55 and a fifty-two week high of $64.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $251.26 billion, a PE ratio of 23.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.59.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $10.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.68 billion. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 42.50% and a net margin of 23.42%. Coca-Cola’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. This is a positive change from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is 78.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James Quincey sold 247,188 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.94, for a total value of $15,063,636.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 442,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,968,753.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Coca-Cola news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 57,368 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.87, for a total value of $3,491,990.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 223,330 shares in the company, valued at $13,594,097.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Quincey sold 247,188 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.94, for a total value of $15,063,636.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 442,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,968,753.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 375,407 shares of company stock valued at $22,795,742 in the last three months. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.