Howard Capital Management Group LLC Acquires 4,958 Shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 404,565 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,958 shares during the quarter. Coca-Cola accounts for approximately 1.7% of Howard Capital Management Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Howard Capital Management Group LLC’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $25,188,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KO. Atomi Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 30,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,880,000 after buying an additional 3,667 shares during the period. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. lifted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. now owns 3,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 629 shares during the period. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 648,399 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,369,000 after acquiring an additional 32,437 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Trust Co purchased a new position in Coca-Cola in the fourth quarter worth about $200,000. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 895,068 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,727,000 after purchasing an additional 87,920 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Coca-Cola

In related news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $6,403,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 342,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,933,220.38. This represents a 22.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.97% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KO opened at $62.39 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $268.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $62.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.45. The Coca-Cola Company has a fifty-two week low of $57.93 and a fifty-two week high of $73.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.06.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.03. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.45% and a return on equity of 44.01%. The business had revenue of $11.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $82.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays reduced 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Coca-Cola to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Coca-Cola currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.13.

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.