Crescent Sterling Ltd. Sells 101 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Crescent Sterling Ltd. decreased its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 0.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,599 shares of the company’s stock after selling 101 shares during the period. PepsiCo comprises about 3.0% of Crescent Sterling Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Crescent Sterling Ltd.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $2,939,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,371,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,280,471,000 after buying an additional 1,376,133 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,079,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,717,069,000 after acquiring an additional 582,254 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position 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 worth $3,834,504,000 after purchasing an additional 3,856,193 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in PepsiCo during the 4th quarter worth $2,729,565,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in PepsiCo by 8.7% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on PepsiCo from $168.00 to $153.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on PepsiCo from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Dbs Bank lowered PepsiCo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Bank of America dropped their price target on PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $171.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $160.69.

PepsiCo Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of PEP stock opened at $129.96 on Tuesday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 52-week low of $127.75 and a 52-week high of $180.91. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $135.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $145.84. The company has a market capitalization of $178.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.70, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45.

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

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The firm 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 represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This is an increase from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is 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.