Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC Decreases Position in PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP

Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 52.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,282 shares of the company’s stock after selling 22,333 shares during the period. Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $2,848,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PEP. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in PepsiCo by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 136,936,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,081,034,000 after acquiring an additional 1,761,785 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in PepsiCo by 1.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 58,419,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,713,757,000 after acquiring an additional 920,045 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 0.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 32,675,492 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,301,240,000 after purchasing an additional 86,695 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 9.7% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 29,031,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,833,406,000 after purchasing an additional 2,556,163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of PepsiCo in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,330,594,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

PepsiCo Price Performance

PepsiCo stock opened at $161.53 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $220.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.39. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $127.60 and a 1 year high of $171.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $155.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $149.38.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.02. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.92% and a net margin of 8.77%.The firm had revenue of $29.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.96 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.96 earnings per share. PepsiCo’s revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $1.4225 per share. This represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.83%.

PepsiCo declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 3rd that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PEP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Citigroup upped their target price on PepsiCo from $170.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $163.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $161.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $168.50.

PepsiCo Company Profile

PepsiCo, Inc (NASDAQ: PEP) is a multinational food and beverage company headquartered in Purchase, New York. The company develops, manufactures, markets and sells a broad portfolio of branded food and beverage products, including carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks, bottled water, sports drinks, juices, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, salty snacks, cereals, and other convenient foods. Its leading consumer brands include Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Tropicana, Quaker, Lay’s, Doritos and Cheetos, among others.

Formed through the 1965 merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay, PepsiCo has grown into a global business with integrated manufacturing, distribution and marketing operations.