Farther Finance Advisors LLC Raises Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 35.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 39,147 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,187 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $5,859,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

PepsiCo Price Performance

NASDAQ:PEP 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 quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $178.19 billion, a PE ratio of 18.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $135.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $145.84.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.01). PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. The business had revenue of $17.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.38%. This is a boost from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is presently 83.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on PepsiCo from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup cut their price target on PepsiCo from $170.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America cut their price target on PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Barclays cut their price target on PepsiCo from $143.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $171.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $160.69.

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.