Merit Financial Group LLC Buys 7,362 Shares of CocaCola Company (The) $KO

Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of CocaCola Company (The) (NYSE:KO) by 3.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 206,621 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,362 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in CocaCola were worth $13,703,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of CocaCola in the second quarter worth about $3,846,270,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in CocaCola by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 367,441,971 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,996,519,000 after buying an additional 6,241,163 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of CocaCola by 7,239.2% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,149,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $435,086,000 after acquiring an additional 6,065,840 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 343.3% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,486,096 shares of the company’s stock valued at $297,518,000 after purchasing an additional 3,474,015 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in shares of CocaCola by 28.7% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 11,713,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $828,764,000 after purchasing an additional 2,613,316 shares in the last quarter. 70.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CocaCola news, CEO James Quincey sold 337,824 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.10, for a total value of $26,046,230.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 342,546 shares in the company, valued at $26,410,296.60. This trade represents a 49.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Trending Headlines about CocaCola

Here are the key news stories impacting CocaCola this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Henrique Braun named CEO, effective March 31 — new leadership is being framed as a potential growth catalyst that could refresh strategy and investor confidence. 6 Reasons to Buy Coca-Cola Stock Like There’s No Tomorrow
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts have been raising price targets after Coca‑Cola’s Q4 beat, which supports upside expectations from the street. Coca-Cola’s Week in Review: Analysts Raise Price Targets Q4 Beat
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend durability remains a key investor anchor — KO is a long-time Dividend King with many years of consecutive raises, making it attractive to income-focused investors and defensive portfolios. 2 Unstoppable Dividend Stocks to Buy if There’s a Stock Market Sell-Off
• Neutral Sentiment: Q4 results were mixed: EPS beat and global value‑share gains, but revenue growth slowed and regional volume trends varied across categories — this tempers conviction about near‑term momentum. Coca-Cola’s Q4 Metrics Signal Growth or Slowing Momentum?
• Neutral Sentiment: Brand/marketing partnership: CineVantage joined Coca‑Cola Refreshing Films as a technical partner for sound and music mentorship — a modest marketing/CSR initiative unlikely to move the stock materially. CineVantage Joins Coca-Cola® Refreshing Films as Technical Partner for Sound Design and Music Composition Mentorship

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of CocaCola from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of CocaCola from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on CocaCola from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $87.00 price objective on shares of CocaCola in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on CocaCola from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and sixteen have issued a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $84.19.

CocaCola Stock Performance

CocaCola stock opened at $78.68 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $338.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.36. CocaCola Company has a 1-year low of $65.35 and a 1-year high of $80.41. The company’s 50-day moving average is $72.24 and its 200 day moving average is $70.17.

CocaCola (NYSE:KO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.02. CocaCola had a return on equity of 41.31% and a net margin of 27.34%.The firm had revenue of $11.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. CocaCola has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.210-3.240 EPS. Research analysts forecast that CocaCola Company will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

About CocaCola

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.