Ameriprise Financial Inc. Boosts Position in CocaCola Company (The) $KO

Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,902,256 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,709,860 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.44% of CocaCola worth $1,253,992,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of CocaCola during the second quarter worth $3,846,270,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in CocaCola by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 367,441,971 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,996,519,000 after purchasing an additional 6,241,163 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in CocaCola by 7,239.2% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,149,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $435,086,000 after purchasing an additional 6,065,840 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of CocaCola by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 39,094,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,592,732,000 after buying an additional 5,135,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of CocaCola by 343.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,486,096 shares of the company’s stock valued at $297,518,000 after buying an additional 3,474,015 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on KO shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on CocaCola from $88.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of CocaCola in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. UBS Group upped their price objective on CocaCola from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Truist Financial set a $85.00 price objective on shares of CocaCola in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $88.00 target price on shares of CocaCola in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and fifteen have given a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, CocaCola currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $84.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James Quincey sold 250,688 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.14, for a total value of $19,839,448.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 278,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,013,186.70. This trade represents a 47.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 28,765 shares of CocaCola stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.41, for a total value of $2,284,228.65. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 892,925 shares of company stock valued at $70,254,796. 0.97% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CocaCola Stock Performance

Shares of KO stock opened at $77.34 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. CocaCola Company has a 12-month low of $65.35 and a 12-month high of $82.00. The business’s 50 day moving average is $75.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.39. The company has a market capitalization of $332.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.35.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.02. CocaCola had a return on equity of 41.31% and a net margin of 27.34%.The business had revenue of $11.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.55 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. CocaCola has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.210-3.240 EPS. Analysts expect that CocaCola Company will post 2.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CocaCola Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from CocaCola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. CocaCola’s payout ratio is 67.11%.

CocaCola Company Profile

The Coca‑Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is a global beverage manufacturer, marketer and distributor best known for its flagship Coca‑Cola soda. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the company develops and sells concentrates, syrups and finished beverages across a broad portfolio of brands. Its product range spans sparkling soft drinks, bottled water, sports drinks, juices, ready‑to‑drink teas and coffees, and other still beverages, marketed under both global and regional brand names.

Coca‑Cola’s brand portfolio includes widely recognized names such as Coca‑Cola, Diet Coke, Coca‑Cola Zero Sugar, Sprite, Fanta, Minute Maid, Powerade and Dasani, and in recent years the company has expanded into the coffee and premium beverage categories through acquisitions such as Costa Coffee.