Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,142 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 137 shares during the quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $2,591,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 34.0% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,128,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,812,000 after purchasing an additional 286,169 shares during the period. AMI Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,627 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,783,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 29.3% during the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 5,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $931,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262 shares during the period. Wsfs Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 117.2% during the 1st quarter. Wsfs Capital Management LLC now owns 2,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $501,000 after purchasing an additional 1,616 shares during the period. Finally, Equitable Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. now owns 26,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,504,000 after acquiring an additional 2,116 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on PEP shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on PepsiCo from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley upgraded PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup upgraded PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $195.00 in a report on Monday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on PepsiCo from $199.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $186.92.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PEP traded up $1.06 on Tuesday, hitting $168.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,900,267 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,709,770. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $155.83 and a 12 month high of $196.88. The company has a market capitalization of $230.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.53. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $168.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $167.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.85.

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

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $1.265 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $5.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.02%.

PepsiCo 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.