Twinbeech Capital LP Makes New $1.73 Million Investment in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Twinbeech Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 11,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,733,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter valued at $2,729,565,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in PepsiCo during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $589,307,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in PepsiCo by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,217,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,834,504,000 after acquiring an additional 3,856,193 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in PepsiCo by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,371,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,280,471,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376,133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 360.0% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,697,742 shares of the company’s stock worth $258,158,000 after purchasing an additional 1,328,672 shares during the period. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PEP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $171.00 to $170.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. CICC Research restated a “market perform” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $168.00 to $153.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $143.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, PepsiCo presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $160.69.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of PepsiCo stock opened at $130.15 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $140.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $148.94. The company has a market cap of $178.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.73, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.47. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $127.87 and a one year high of $182.13.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.01). PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. The firm had revenue of $17.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.81 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.61 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $1.4225 per share. This is a boost from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.37%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.68%.

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.