First Manhattan CO. LLC. Has $18.04 Million Stock Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. raised its position in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 113,942 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,850 shares during the quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $18,036,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Collier Financial bought a new position in shares of PepsiCo during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of PepsiCo in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC purchased a new position in PepsiCo during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of PepsiCo during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in PepsiCo in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PEP shares. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $171.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on PepsiCo from $168.00 to $153.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $163.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. HSBC dropped their target price on PepsiCo from $186.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $160.69.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PEP stock opened at $131.43 on Friday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.16 and a fifty-two week high of $183.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $180.20 billion, a PE ratio of 18.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $144.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $151.34.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.01). PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.87% and a net margin of 10.43%. The company had revenue of $17.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.81 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.61 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.4225 per share. This represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This is an increase from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is 83.68%.

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.