The Coca-Cola Company (KO)’s Smartest Investors Are Doing What?

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) has experienced a decrease in hedge fund sentiment in recent months.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are plenty of methods market participants can use to analyze their holdings. Two of the best are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top hedge fund managers can outclass the broader indices by a solid amount (see just how much).

Equally as important, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the marketplace. Obviously, there are plenty of incentives for an upper level exec to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if investors know what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a gander at the key action regarding The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO).

What does the smart money think about The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)?

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 59 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -3% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.

Of the funds we track, Berkshire Hathaway, managed by Warren Buffett, holds the most valuable position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO). Berkshire Hathaway has a $16.176 billion position in the stock, comprising 19% of its 13F portfolio. On Berkshire Hathaway’s heels is Michael Larson of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, with a $1.375 billion position; 7.6% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedgies that hold long positions include Donald Yacktman’s Yacktman Asset Management, Boykin Curry’s Eagle Capital Management and Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management.

Seeing as The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) has witnessed declining sentiment from the smart money, logic holds that there is a sect of hedgies that elected to cut their full holdings in Q1. It’s worth mentioning that Paul Ruddock and Steve Heinz’s Lansdowne Partners said goodbye to the biggest position of all the hedgies we watch, valued at about $199.1 million in stock.. Clifford G. Fox’s fund, Columbus Circle Investors, also said goodbye to its stock, about $192.6 million worth. These moves are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds in Q1.

Insider trading activity in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time period, The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) has experienced 1 unique insiders buying, and 10 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results shown by Insider Monkey’s tactics, retail investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) is no exception.

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