Voya Financial Advisors Inc. Reduces Stake in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Voya Financial Advisors Inc. cut its position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 7.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,282 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,338 shares during the quarter. Voya Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $1,169,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in Coca-Cola by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 92,961,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,680,205,000 after acquiring an additional 11,206,995 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Coca-Cola by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,701,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,463,373,000 after acquiring an additional 1,084,475 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Coca-Cola by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,615,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,271,885,000 after acquiring an additional 4,013,996 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in Coca-Cola by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 16,362,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,041,479,000 after acquiring an additional 177,241 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in Coca-Cola by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 11,793,323 shares of the company’s stock worth $847,468,000 after acquiring an additional 222,028 shares during the period. 70.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Coca-Cola news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $6,403,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 342,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,933,220.38. This trade represents a 22.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Coca-Cola Stock Performance

NYSE KO opened at $62.93 on Friday. The Coca-Cola Company has a 1-year low of $57.47 and a 1-year high of $73.53. The company has a market capitalization of $271.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.00, a PEG ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $66.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.56. 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 Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $11.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.61 billion. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 44.01% and a net margin of 22.45%. Coca-Cola’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.485 per share. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is 80.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on KO. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Cfra reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Coca-Cola in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Hsbc Global Res raised Coca-Cola to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Coca-Cola from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Coca-Cola currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.14.

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.