PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) Shares Sold by HighPoint Advisor Group LLC

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC cut its position in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 49,565 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,732 shares during the quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $7,235,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PEP. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,371,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,280,471,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376,133 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in PepsiCo by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,268,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,738,429,000 after acquiring an additional 2,775,679 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,497,268 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,170,529,000 after acquiring an additional 543,558 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in PepsiCo by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,217,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,834,504,000 after acquiring an additional 3,856,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of PepsiCo during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,729,565,000. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays downgraded shares of PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $168.00 to $156.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $184.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. CICC Research reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $193.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.88.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of PEP opened at $149.27 on Monday. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $141.51 and a 1 year high of $183.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $149.25 and a 200-day moving average of $157.91. The company has a market cap of $204.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.52.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.355 per share. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.99%.

PepsiCo 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.