Scotia Capital Inc. Sells 117,081 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Scotia Capital Inc. lowered its position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 14.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 698,733 shares of the company’s stock after selling 117,081 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc. owned about 0.05% of PepsiCo worth $106,252,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in PepsiCo by 104.2% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,350,000 after purchasing an additional 870,451 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in PepsiCo by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 41,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,323,000 after purchasing an additional 4,712 shares in the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,236,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,031,000 after acquiring an additional 61,541 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 147.6% in the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 14,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,229,000 after acquiring an additional 8,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 48.2% in the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 56,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,529,000 after acquiring an additional 18,250 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

PepsiCo Trading Up 3.8 %

PEP opened at $145.59 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $199.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.49. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $148.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $156.13. PepsiCo, Inc. has a one year low of $138.33 and a one year high of $183.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.82.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.02. The firm 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 quarterly revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.78 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $1.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is 77.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $171.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on PepsiCo from $183.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on PepsiCo in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. They issued a $172.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup reduced their target price on PepsiCo from $195.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on PepsiCo from $185.00 to $168.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.88.

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.