Principal Securities Inc. Has $6.61 Million Position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Principal Securities Inc. grew its position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 106,126 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,121 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $6,607,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning increased its position in Coca-Cola by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,852,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,123,000 after purchasing an additional 70,604 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its position in Coca-Cola by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 399,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,716,000 after purchasing an additional 2,069 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its position in Coca-Cola by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 133,473 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,591,000 after purchasing an additional 9,277 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Coca-Cola by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 25,670 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,845,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new position in Coca-Cola during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $323,000. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on KO. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $69.00 price target on shares of Coca-Cola in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Coca-Cola presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $73.82.

Coca-Cola Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:KO opened at $68.85 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $296.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.45, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.36. The Coca-Cola Company has a 12 month low of $57.93 and a 12 month high of $73.53.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.04. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.45% and a return on equity of 44.01%. Analysts expect that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Company 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.