Wealth Alliance LLC Has $3.33 Million Stock Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Wealth Alliance LLC grew its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 29.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 22,224 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,019 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $3,332,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,729,565,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 19,106.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,588,614 shares of the company’s stock worth $688,017,000 after acquiring an additional 4,564,723 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 106.1% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,514,965 shares of the company’s stock worth $527,034,000 after acquiring an additional 1,809,391 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of PepsiCo in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $221,297,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,371,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,280,471,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376,133 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

PepsiCo Trading Down 1.5%

NASDAQ PEP opened at $143.24 on Friday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1-year low of $127.60 and a 1-year high of $180.91. The firm has a market cap of $196.39 billion, a PE ratio of 26.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $132.23 and a 200-day moving average of $141.11.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $22.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.28 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.81% and a net margin of 8.23%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.28 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th were given a dividend of $1.4225 per share. This is a positive change from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.97%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 103.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on PEP shares. Barclays dropped their price target on PepsiCo from $135.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on PepsiCo from $140.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Dbs Bank downgraded PepsiCo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.93.

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.