HB Wealth Management LLC Increases Position in PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP

HB Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 148,567 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,867 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $21,322,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 554,798 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,916,000 after purchasing an additional 19,218 shares in the last quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in PepsiCo in the third quarter worth $872,000. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. raised its position in PepsiCo by 622.3% in the fourth quarter. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. now owns 35,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,110,000 after acquiring an additional 30,674 shares in the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its position in PepsiCo by 122.6% in the third quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 20,365 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,860,000 after acquiring an additional 11,217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd raised its position in PepsiCo by 19.3% in the third quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 252,916 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,451,000 after acquiring an additional 40,947 shares in the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price objective on PepsiCo from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $169.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on PepsiCo from $191.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $170.26.

PepsiCo Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of PEP opened at $153.79 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $159.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $151.92. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1-year low of $127.60 and a 1-year high of $171.48. The stock has a market cap of $210.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.40.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 16th. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.06. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 56.61% and a net margin of 9.15%.The business had revenue of $19.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.48 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. PepsiCo has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.465-8.628 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th were given a $1.4225 dividend. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 6th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 89.32%.

PepsiCo announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, February 3rd that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Key PepsiCo News

Here are the key news stories impacting PepsiCo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PepsiCo announced a multi-year strategic collaboration with Google Cloud to deploy Gemini Enterprise Agent and strengthen its multi‑cloud digital foundation, aimed at faster analytics-to-action across supply chain and marketing — a potential long-term efficiency and growth catalyst. PepsiCo Gains As Google Cloud Partnership Boosts AI, Supply Chain Plans
• Positive Sentiment: PR and Cloud Next coverage expand on the Google Cloud deal, reinforcing execution plans to transform IT systems and scale AI across the business — signals investors view as supportive for margins and innovation. PepsiCo Deepens AI Capabilities with Google Cloud
• Positive Sentiment: Reported buying by Steve Cohen’s Point72 adds an institutional vote of confidence in PEP’s outlook and can support sentiment. Steve Cohen’s Point72 Is Aggressively Buying These 3 Stocks
• Positive Sentiment: Management says recent price cuts are yielding benefits — a tactical move that can help volume and share gains while supporting near-term revenue recovery. PepsiCo says price cuts are paying off
• Positive Sentiment: Product innovation and portfolio refreshes — Quaker Protein Rice Crisps and Bubly Wine Refreshers — support revenue diversification and health/slow‑alcohol trends. QUAKER® EXPANDS PORTFOLIO WITH NEW PROTEIN RICE CRISPS OFFERING PepsiCo Launches Bubly Wine Refreshers
• Positive Sentiment: Company initiatives to broaden Gatorade’s market beyond athletes and to re-energize the foods segment indicate growth levers beyond core beverages. PepsiCo looks to broaden the market for Gatorade PepsiCo makes strides in re-energizing food business
• Neutral Sentiment: PepsiCo selected Carlsberg as its bottling and distribution partner in Northern Europe (effective 2029). This is a strategic supply-chain move that should simplify operations long-term but creates near-term transition risk. PepsiCo Hands Northern Europe Bottling To Carlsberg
• Neutral Sentiment: Operational stories — India farm-to-shelf overhaul and a planned virtual annual meeting — are material for governance/ops but unlikely to move the stock sharply on their own. Inside PepsiCo India’s farm-to-shelf overhaul PepsiCo Announces Webcast of Annual Meeting of Shareholders
• Negative Sentiment: Guru Organic Energy filed a C$15m suit alleging breach of distribution agreements with Pepsi’s Canadian bottling unit — a legal risk that could create costs and local distraction. Guru sues PepsiCo for alleged distribution agreement breach

About PepsiCo

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.