Compass Ion Advisors LLC Sells 305 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Compass Ion Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 11.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,425 shares of the company’s stock after selling 305 shares during the quarter. Compass Ion Advisors LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $364,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in PepsiCo by 1.0% during the fourth 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 increased its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 3,856,193 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in PepsiCo during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,729,565,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in PepsiCo by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,403,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,494,300,000 after purchasing an additional 1,306,818 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on PEP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $163.00 target price on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group reduced their target price on PepsiCo from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America lowered their price target on PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Dbs Bank downgraded PepsiCo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $160.69.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PEP opened at $129.07 on Friday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12-month low of $127.75 and a 12-month high of $180.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $176.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $133.50 and a 200 day moving average of $144.28.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released 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). The company had revenue of $17.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.81 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 58.28%. PepsiCo’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.61 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 is a boost from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.41%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.68%.

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.