Argent Trust Co Has $25.90 Million Stake in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Argent Trust Co raised its stake in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 406,921 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 9,061 shares during the quarter. Coca-Cola comprises 1.1% of Argent Trust Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $25,901,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of KO. Tidemark LLC bought a new stake in Coca-Cola in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. New Millennium Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Coca-Cola in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Coca-Cola during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. ESL Trust Services LLC bought a new stake in Coca-Cola during the first quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Coca-Cola during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Argus boosted their target price on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.07.

Coca-Cola Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Coca-Cola stock opened at $71.80 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $68.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The Coca-Cola Company has a 12-month low of $51.55 and a 12-month high of $73.53. The company has a market cap of $309.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.72, a PEG ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.60.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $12.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.78 billion. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.92% and a return on equity of 43.62%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.485 per share. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is 77.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 19,304 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.96, for a total transaction of $1,253,987.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 223,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,507,516.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Nancy Quan sold 19,304 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.96, for a total value of $1,253,987.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 223,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,507,516.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Cola Co Coca sold 598,619 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $925.00, for a total transaction of $553,722,575.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,883,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,742,280,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 974,715 shares of company stock worth $579,704,927 in the last ninety days. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.