Bank OZK Sells 822 Shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Bank OZK trimmed its holdings in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,700 shares of the company’s stock after selling 822 shares during the quarter. Bank OZK’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $915,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hara Capital LLC bought a new stake in Coca-Cola during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. MilWealth Group LLC bought a new stake in Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Coca-Cola during the third quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Coca-Cola

In other news, EVP Lisa Chang sold 13,445 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.50, for a total value of $961,317.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 94,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,769,334. This represents a 12.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 54,708 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 246,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,520,662.64. This represents a 18.14 % decrease in their position. 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 90 days. 0.97% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on KO. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $69.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Two equities research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.24.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

Coca-Cola stock opened at $71.20 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $306.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.82, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $64.53 and its 200 day moving average is $66.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. The Coca-Cola Company has a 52-week low of $57.93 and a 52-week high of $73.53.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.04. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.59% and a return on equity of 45.37%. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. This is an increase from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. Coca-Cola’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.59%.

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.