PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) Stock Holdings Lessened by Investment Partners LTD.

Investment Partners LTD. reduced its position in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,913 shares of the company’s stock after selling 193 shares during the quarter. Investment Partners LTD.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $1,853,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PEP. SS&H Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in PepsiCo during the 3rd quarter valued at $5,062,000. Secure Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 15.5% in the third quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 2,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $462,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Welch Group LLC increased its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 0.4% in the third quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 283,067 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,963,000 after acquiring an additional 1,076 shares during the last quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 26.0% in the third quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 14,368 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,304,000 after acquiring an additional 2,967 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norris Perne & French LLP MI increased its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 3.8% in the third quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI now owns 6,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,087,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $178.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup raised shares of PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $199.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.42.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PEP traded down $1.10 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $175.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,472,102 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,365,961. The stock has a market capitalization of $241.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.40, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.53. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $169.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $167.86. PepsiCo, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $155.83 and a fifty-two week high of $196.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.86.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.09. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.37% and a net margin of 10.00%. The company had revenue of $18.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.08 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were given a dividend of $1.265 per share. This represents a $5.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.09%.

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.