Wedbush Securities Inc. Grows Position in PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP

Wedbush Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 41,831 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,223 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $5,523,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 1.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 135,174,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,268,027,000 after purchasing an additional 1,802,748 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 26,475,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,969,698,000 after buying an additional 1,258,198 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in PepsiCo by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 11,525,812 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,728,180,000 after acquiring an additional 208,292 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,328,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,698,544,000 after acquiring an additional 491,894 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,878,718 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,631,155,000 after acquiring an additional 923,766 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $157.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 6th. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price target on PepsiCo from $152.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on PepsiCo from $150.00 to $152.00 in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on PepsiCo from $168.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PepsiCo presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $156.95.

PepsiCo Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ PEP opened at $142.95 on Friday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $127.60 and a fifty-two week high of $166.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a market cap of $195.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.18, a PEG ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.45. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $145.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $139.75.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 8th. The company reported $2.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.03. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.58% and a net margin of 7.82%.The company had revenue of $23.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.91 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.31 EPS. PepsiCo’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

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.