VSM Wealth Advisory LLC Increases Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

VSM Wealth Advisory LLC increased its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 13.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 860 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $129,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of PepsiCo in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Elite Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of PepsiCo in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of PepsiCo in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. bought a new stake in shares of PepsiCo in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of PepsiCo in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PEP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Citigroup increased their price objective on PepsiCo from $160.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI set a $140.00 price objective on PepsiCo in a report on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on PepsiCo from $150.00 to $139.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on PepsiCo from $140.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $158.73.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of PEP stock traded up $3.15 on Tuesday, reaching $144.85. The stock had a trading volume of 1,834,747 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,227,599. The stock has a market cap of $198.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.45. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $127.60 and a 1 year high of $180.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $132.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $141.04.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $22.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.28 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.81% and a net margin of 8.23%. PepsiCo’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.28 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th were paid a dividend of $1.4225 per share. This is a boost from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is presently 103.64%.

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.