Beacon Financial Group Cuts Stake in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Beacon Financial Group cut its holdings in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 71,695 shares of the company’s stock after selling 466 shares during the quarter. Beacon Financial Group’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $4,464,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc. increased its stake in Coca-Cola by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc. now owns 42,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,652,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 8,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,064 shares in the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Coca-Cola by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 76,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,743,000 after purchasing an additional 944 shares during the last quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC raised its stake in Coca-Cola by 51.2% during the fourth quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC now owns 50,383 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,137,000 after purchasing an additional 17,067 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC lifted its position in Coca-Cola by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 13,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $851,000 after purchasing an additional 3,076 shares during the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Coca-Cola from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Coca-Cola from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Coca-Cola presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.19.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

Shares of KO stock opened at $67.61 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $291.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.61. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.31. The Coca-Cola Company has a one year low of $57.93 and a one year high of $73.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.04. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 44.01% and a net margin of 22.45%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

Coca-Cola 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.