Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Acquires 29,221 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 0.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,924,121 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,221 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned about 0.29% of PepsiCo worth $686,760,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PEP. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA increased its holdings in PepsiCo by 80.5% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 157 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Fortis Group Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC now owns 194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new stake in shares of PepsiCo in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in PepsiCo in the first quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Naples Money Management LLC bought a new position in PepsiCo during the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ramkumar Krishnan sold 5,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PEP. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Jefferies Financial Group increased 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on PepsiCo from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Argus downgraded PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, March 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $186.64.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PepsiCo stock traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $163.54. 540,238 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,462,710. PepsiCo, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $155.83 and a fifty-two week high of $192.38. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $173.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $170.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The company has a market capitalization of $224.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.52.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $18.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.08 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.37% and a net margin of 10.00%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.50 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a $1.355 dividend. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. This is an increase from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is 81.50%.

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.