PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) Stake Lessened by Ascent Group LLC

Ascent Group LLC lessened its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 15.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,197 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,640 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $5,504,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,371,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,280,471,000 after buying an additional 1,376,133 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,079,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,717,069,000 after buying an additional 582,254 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,217,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,834,504,000 after purchasing an additional 3,856,193 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth $2,729,565,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,403,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,494,300,000 after purchasing an additional 1,306,818 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PEP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $168.00 to $153.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. HSBC decreased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $186.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $163.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $160.69.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of PEP opened at $129.34 on Friday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $127.75 and a 1 year high of $180.91. The company has a market cap of $177.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $139.53 and a 200-day moving average of $148.31.

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

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.40%. This is an increase from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is presently 83.68%.

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.