Pacific Point Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 17,447 PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Pacific Point Advisors LLC acquired a new position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 17,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,503,000. PepsiCo makes up approximately 1.5% of Pacific Point Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 1.0% during the fourth 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,079,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,717,069,000 after purchasing an additional 582,254 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,217,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,834,504,000 after purchasing an additional 3,856,193 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of PepsiCo during the fourth quarter worth $2,729,565,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,403,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,494,300,000 after purchasing an additional 1,306,818 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on PEP shares. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $171.00 to $170.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Barclays decreased their price target on PepsiCo from $143.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Citigroup decreased their price target on PepsiCo from $170.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. CICC Research restated a “market perform” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PepsiCo has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $160.69.

PepsiCo Stock Down 0.0%

NASDAQ PEP opened at $130.12 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $178.40 billion, a PE ratio of 18.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.47. PepsiCo, Inc. has a one year low of $127.87 and a one year high of $181.89. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $139.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $148.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.81 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.61 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $1.4225 per share. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.37%. 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 (DPR) is presently 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.