SMART Wealth LLC Sells 106 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

SMART Wealth LLC lessened its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 5.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,702 shares of the company’s stock after selling 106 shares during the quarter. SMART Wealth LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,376,133 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 1.9% in the 4th 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 period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of PepsiCo in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,729,565,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,403,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,494,300,000 after acquiring an additional 1,306,818 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,748,403 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,090,582,000 after acquiring an additional 727,087 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

PepsiCo Price Performance

NASDAQ:PEP opened at $135.58 on Friday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a one year low of $127.60 and a one year high of $180.91. The company has a market cap of $185.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.94, a P/E/G ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $131.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $142.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.13, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced its earnings results 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 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 10.24% and a return on equity of 58.28%. The company’s revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.61 EPS. Equities 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 was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th were given a dividend of $1.4225 per share. This is a boost from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.20%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 83.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PEP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $170.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $143.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $168.00 to $153.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Dbs Bank lowered shares of PepsiCo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $159.75.

About PepsiCo

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.