WASHINGTON TRUST Co Buys 283 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 116,740 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 283 shares during the period. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $19,825,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in PepsiCo by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,747,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 1.4% during the third quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 13,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,243,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Marion Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. Marion Wealth Management now owns 7,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,340,000 after buying an additional 1,900 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 20.1% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 59,879 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,146,000 after buying an additional 10,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Widmann Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 7.1% during the third quarter. Widmann Financial Services Inc. now owns 8,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,356,000 after buying an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PEP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $185.00 to $176.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Barclays upped their price target on PepsiCo from $179.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, PepsiCo currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.77.

PepsiCo Stock Up 0.3 %

PEP stock traded up $0.49 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $173.22. 2,155,663 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,898,344. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $167.83 and its 200-day moving average is $167.98. The company has a market cap of $238.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.29, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.68. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $155.83 and a 12 month high of $196.88.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $27.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $28.40 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.03% and a net margin of 9.92%. The company’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.67 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st will be given a $1.265 dividend. This represents a $5.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 29th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.02%.

PepsiCo Company Profile

PepsiCo, Inc engages in the manufacture, marketing, distribution, and sale of various beverages and convenient foods worldwide. The company operates through seven segments: Frito-Lay North America; Quaker Foods North America; PepsiCo Beverages North America; Latin America; Europe; Africa, Middle East and South Asia; and Asia Pacific, Australia and New Zealand and China Region.