Abacus Planning Group Inc. Has $900,000 Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Abacus Planning Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 4.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,003 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $900,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in PepsiCo during the fourth quarter worth $2,729,565,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 19,106.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,588,614 shares of the company’s stock worth $688,017,000 after acquiring an additional 4,564,723 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of PepsiCo in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $589,307,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,217,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,834,504,000 after acquiring an additional 3,856,193 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in PepsiCo during the 4th quarter worth about $221,297,000. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PepsiCo Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of PEP stock opened at $130.03 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $127.75 and a 12 month high of $180.91. The stock has a market cap of $178.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $136.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $146.16.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its earnings results 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). PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.87% and a net margin of 10.43%. The firm had revenue of $17.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.61 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a $1.4225 dividend. This is an increase from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.38%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is presently 83.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on PEP. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $163.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Dbs Bank cut PepsiCo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $143.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, PepsiCo has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $160.69.

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.