EP Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 1,179 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 306,205 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,179 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $52,006,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new position in shares of PepsiCo in the 3rd quarter worth $2,913,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its position in PepsiCo by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $321,000 after buying an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. increased its position in PepsiCo by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. now owns 5,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $929,000 after buying an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in PepsiCo during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,970,000. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its position in PepsiCo by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 149,426 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,319,000 after buying an additional 18,887 shares in the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on PepsiCo from $209.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley upgraded PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Barclays dropped their price target on PepsiCo from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on PepsiCo from $178.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at PepsiCo

In other PepsiCo news, CEO Ramkumar Krishnan sold 5,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.00, for a total value of $1,000,360.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,953 shares in the company, valued at $9,603,634. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

PepsiCo Price Performance

Shares of PepsiCo stock traded up $0.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $163.81. 3,603,340 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,978,118. The business has a 50-day moving average of $173.96 and a 200 day moving average of $170.40. PepsiCo, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $155.83 and a fifty-two week high of $192.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $225.20 billion, a PE ratio of 24.63, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $18.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.08 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.50 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a $1.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This is a positive change from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 81.50%.

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.