Visionary Wealth Advisors Sells 827 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Visionary Wealth Advisors decreased its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 46,697 shares of the company’s stock after selling 827 shares during the quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors’ holdings in PepsiCo were worth $7,101,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Ossiam increased its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 138.9% during the 4th quarter. Ossiam now owns 73,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,192,000 after purchasing an additional 42,793 shares during the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp raised its stake in PepsiCo by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 124,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,977,000 after buying an additional 13,461 shares during the period. Hutner Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 14.6% during the 4th quarter. Hutner Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,783 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,178,000 after acquiring an additional 6,865 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its stake in PepsiCo by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,236,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,031,000 after acquiring an additional 61,541 shares during the period. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its position in PepsiCo by 147.6% during the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 14,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,229,000 after purchasing an additional 8,759 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

PepsiCo Price Performance

PEP stock opened at $131.98 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.82. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 52-week low of $127.87 and a 52-week high of $182.13. The company has a market capitalization of $180.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.99, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $141.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $149.42.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.01). PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.87% and a net margin of 10.43%. The company had revenue of $17.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.61 earnings per share. PepsiCo’s revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $1.4225 dividend. This is a positive change from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.31%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is presently 83.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on PEP. Evercore ISI set a $140.00 target price on PepsiCo in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $184.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $168.00 to $153.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $160.69.

About PepsiCo

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.