Perennial Advisors LLC Invests $649,000 in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Perennial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 4,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $649,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,376,133 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in PepsiCo by 1.9% during 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. increased its holdings in PepsiCo by 18.1% during 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 buying an additional 3,856,193 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in PepsiCo during the fourth quarter worth $2,729,565,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in PepsiCo by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,403,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,494,300,000 after buying an additional 1,306,818 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PEP. 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. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $143.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Evercore ISI set a $140.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $160.69.

PepsiCo Trading Down 0.8%

PEP stock opened at $130.03 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $178.28 billion, a PE ratio of 18.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45. 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 $127.75 and a 52 week high of $180.91. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $136.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $146.16.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced 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). The firm had revenue of $17.92 billion for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.61 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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 dividend of $1.4225 per share. This represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.38%. This is an increase from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is presently 83.68%.

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.