Welch & Forbes LLC Sells 7,208 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Welch & Forbes LLC reduced its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 1.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 556,244 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,208 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $83,403,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PEP. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 59,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,031,000 after acquiring an additional 6,574 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 470,387 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,527,000 after acquiring an additional 11,538 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 22.7% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,449 shares of the company’s stock worth $677,000 after acquiring an additional 824 shares in the last quarter. Dopkins Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter valued at $263,000. Finally, Leelyn Smith LLC grew its position in PepsiCo by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Leelyn Smith LLC now owns 16,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,537,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on PEP shares. Evercore ISI set a $140.00 target price on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $168.00 to $153.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $150.00 to $139.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. One equities 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.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $158.00.

PepsiCo Price Performance

Shares of PepsiCo stock opened at $133.81 on Wednesday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a twelve month low of $127.60 and a twelve month high of $180.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.13. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $131.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $141.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $183.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.45.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $17.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.81 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 58.28%. PepsiCo’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.61 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. This is an increase from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. PepsiCo’s payout ratio 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.