Claro Advisors LLC Sells 13,473 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Claro Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 60.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,744 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,473 shares during the quarter. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $1,487,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in PepsiCo by 7.2% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 13,547,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,234,400,000 after acquiring an additional 905,468 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,147,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,673,632,000 after purchasing an additional 700,092 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,403,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,221,089,000 after purchasing an additional 561,465 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,130,517 shares of the company’s stock valued at $846,030,000 after buying an additional 57,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch AG lifted its position in PepsiCo by 67.2% in the 1st quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 4,560,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $798,047,000 after buying an additional 1,832,385 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on PEP. StockNews.com downgraded shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $185.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on PepsiCo from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Redburn Atlantic raised PepsiCo to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on PepsiCo from $177.00 to $176.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $183.92.

PepsiCo Price Performance

PEP opened at $175.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $240.18 billion, a PE ratio of 25.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.53. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $173.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $172.13. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 52-week low of $158.03 and a 52-week high of $183.41.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 8th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.01. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.18% and a return on equity of 57.32%. The business had revenue of $23.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.25 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $1.355 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.10%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is 79.94%.

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.