Bessemer Group Inc. Acquires 50,156 Shares of CocaCola Company (The) $KO

Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) by 3.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,631,049 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 50,156 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in CocaCola were worth $124,041,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of KO. Eurizon SLJ Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of CocaCola in the 4th quarter valued at about $552,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in CocaCola by 38.1% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 111,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,802,000 after acquiring an additional 30,786 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its position in CocaCola by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 3,852,525 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,330,000 after acquiring an additional 31,694 shares during the last quarter. Greenberg Financial Group bought a new position in shares of CocaCola during the 4th quarter worth approximately $507,000. Finally, Foguth Wealth Management LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of CocaCola in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,097,000. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $89.00 target price on shares of CocaCola in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on CocaCola from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Bank of America lifted their target price on CocaCola from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. UBS Group increased their price target on CocaCola from $92.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded CocaCola from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.81.

Key Headlines Impacting CocaCola

Here are the key news stories impacting CocaCola this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Heavy call-option activity suggests traders are positioning for a rebound or expecting volatility around the stock. Traders bought 75,333 call options, well above the recent average. Quiver Quant article on Coca-Cola options activity and cyberattack
• Neutral Sentiment: Some coverage noted KO benefiting from its defensive profile as investors look for more stable dividend names ahead of earnings, which may be helping support interest in the stock despite the cybersecurity issue. Benzinga article on Coca-Cola stock movement
• Neutral Sentiment: Coca-Cola also announced a quarterly dividend, reinforcing its appeal as a high-quality income stock, though this is unlikely to be the main driver of today’s trading.
• Negative Sentiment: The fairlife cyberattack is the key negative catalyst, since it hit a growth brand and temporarily suspended U.S. production, raising fears of lost revenue and added recovery costs. Reuters article on fairlife production halt

Insider Buying and Selling at CocaCola

In other news, EVP Jennifer K. Mann sold 100,000 shares of CocaCola stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.46, for a total transaction of $7,946,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 181,384 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,412,772.64. This trade represents a 35.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, EVP Nancy Quan sold 31,625 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.93, for a total transaction of $2,559,411.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 223,330 shares in the company, valued at $18,074,096.90. This trade represents a 12.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 899,905 shares of company stock valued at $71,832,315 in the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CocaCola Trading Down 4.0%

Shares of CocaCola stock opened at $81.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.63. CocaCola Company has a 1 year low of $65.35 and a 1 year high of $85.68. The company has a market capitalization of $350.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.34.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.05. CocaCola had a net margin of 27.80% and a return on equity of 40.55%. The company had revenue of $12.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.73 EPS. CocaCola’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. CocaCola has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.240-3.270 EPS. Research analysts forecast that CocaCola Company will post 3.26 EPS for the current year.

CocaCola Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. CocaCola’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.67%.

CocaCola Profile

The Coca‑Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is a global beverage manufacturer, marketer and distributor best known for its flagship Coca‑Cola soda. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the company develops and sells concentrates, syrups and finished beverages across a broad portfolio of brands. Its product range spans sparkling soft drinks, bottled water, sports drinks, juices, ready‑to‑drink teas and coffees, and other still beverages, marketed under both global and regional brand names.

Coca‑Cola’s brand portfolio includes widely recognized names such as Coca‑Cola, Diet Coke, Coca‑Cola Zero Sugar, Sprite, Fanta, Minute Maid, Powerade and Dasani, and in recent years the company has expanded into the coffee and premium beverage categories through acquisitions such as Costa Coffee.