Lafayette Investments Inc. Boosts Stock Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Lafayette Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 44,167 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,892 shares during the period. PepsiCo accounts for 1.4% of Lafayette Investments Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $6,716,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in PepsiCo by 104.2% in 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 during the period. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in PepsiCo by 12.8% in 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 buying an additional 4,712 shares during the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,236,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,031,000 after buying an additional 61,541 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 147.6% in the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 48.2% in the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 56,089 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,529,000 after acquiring an additional 18,250 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PEP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler started coverage on PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $171.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. They set a $172.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $195.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $169.88.

PepsiCo Stock Up 1.6 %

PEP opened at $146.75 on Tuesday. 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.49. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $148.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $155.52.

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

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders 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 3.69%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is 77.99%.

PepsiCo Company 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.