West Oak Capital LLC Lowers Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

West Oak Capital LLC trimmed its position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 74.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,150 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,189 shares during the period. West Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $479,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AGF Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 70,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,667,000 after purchasing an additional 6,600 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 6.0% in the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,702,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,735,000 after acquiring an additional 95,864 shares during the last quarter. Investment Partners LTD. increased its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 2.1% during the second quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 10,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,786,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. PFG Advisors boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 63.4% in the 2nd quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 12,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,048,000 after purchasing an additional 4,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC grew its position in PepsiCo by 21.0% during the 2nd quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC now owns 21,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,582,000 after purchasing an additional 3,766 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on PEP shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of PepsiCo from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $179.00 to $184.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. TD Cowen cut their target price on PepsiCo from $183.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded PepsiCo from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded PepsiCo to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $186.00 to $183.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $180.64.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of PepsiCo stock traded down $3.90 on Friday, hitting $142.64. 9,628,047 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,259,143. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $195.70 billion, a PE ratio of 21.04, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.54. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $141.51 and a 1 year high of $183.41. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $157.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $166.68.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 8th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.01. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.32% and a net margin of 10.18%. The business had revenue of $23.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.25 earnings per share. PepsiCo’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 6th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $1.355 dividend. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is 79.94%.

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.