Teacher Retirement System of Texas Purchases 44,630 Shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,681,975 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 44,630 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $104,720,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. 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. United Bank increased its position in Coca-Cola by 65.4% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 80,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,813,000 after purchasing an additional 31,979 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Coca-Cola by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,494,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Coca-Cola by 336.8% during the 3rd quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC now owns 51,638 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,711,000 after purchasing an additional 39,816 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new position in Coca-Cola during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,683,000. Institutional investors own 70.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on KO. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Coca-Cola from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $69.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. 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. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Coca-Cola has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.24.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

KO stock opened at $69.33 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $66.69 and a 200-day moving average of $66.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. The Coca-Cola Company has a 12 month low of $57.93 and a 12 month high of $73.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $298.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.57.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.04. Coca-Cola had a net margin of 22.59% and a return on equity of 45.37%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Coca-Cola’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. Coca-Cola’s payout ratio is presently 82.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Coca-Cola

In other Coca-Cola news, EVP Lisa Chang sold 13,445 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.50, for a total transaction of $961,317.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 94,676 shares in the company, valued at $6,769,334. The trade was a 12.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruno Pietracci sold 19,058 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.56, for a total transaction of $1,344,732.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 313,423 shares of company stock worth $22,263,071 over the last three months. 0.97% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.