Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Sells 181,103 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 46.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 212,145 shares of the company’s stock after selling 181,103 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $32,259,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 276,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,008,000 after purchasing an additional 1,601 shares during the period. FourThought Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth $11,688,000. Exchange Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,328,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares during the period. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 26,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,078,000 after purchasing an additional 833 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,013,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,130,841,000 after purchasing an additional 689,383 shares during the period. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on PEP. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. HSBC cut their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $186.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $185.00 to $168.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $158.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.47.

PepsiCo Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of PEP opened at $156.42 on Wednesday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 52 week low of $141.51 and a 52 week high of $183.41. The firm has a market cap of $214.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.54. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $148.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $161.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.82.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.02. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. The business had revenue of $27.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.89 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.78 EPS. PepsiCo’s quarterly revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $1.355 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is presently 77.99%.

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.