Payden & Rygel Sells 11,800 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Payden & Rygel reduced its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 51.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,300 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,800 shares during the quarter. Payden & Rygel’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $1,718,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PEP. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC lifted its holdings in PepsiCo by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 10,038 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,526,000 after buying an additional 1,781 shares during the period. Aviva PLC raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 1,677,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $255,142,000 after acquiring an additional 100,410 shares in the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of PepsiCo in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $75,235,000. AllGen Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. AllGen Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 20,649 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,140,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 333.6% in the fourth quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 14,408 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,191,000 after purchasing an additional 11,085 shares in the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $193.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $195.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on PepsiCo from $183.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.88.

PepsiCo Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of PEP stock opened at $146.61 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $149.33 and its 200 day moving average is $157.21. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12-month low of $141.51 and a 12-month high of $183.41.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.89 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.87% and a net margin of 10.43%. PepsiCo’s revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.78 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $1.355 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.70%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.