Aries Wealth Management Acquires 894 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Aries Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 6.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,592 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 894 shares during the quarter. Aries Wealth Management’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $2,338,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new position in shares of PepsiCo during the fourth quarter valued at about $224,000. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 59,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,031,000 after purchasing an additional 6,574 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of PepsiCo during the fourth quarter valued at about $9,268,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd grew its position in PepsiCo by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 13,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,060,000 after acquiring an additional 2,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in PepsiCo by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 42,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,492,000 after acquiring an additional 7,090 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PEP has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on PepsiCo from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $163.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $171.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on PepsiCo from $168.00 to $153.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $160.69.

PepsiCo Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ PEP opened at $130.85 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $179.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.83, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $134.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $145.08. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 52-week low of $127.75 and a 52-week high of $180.91.

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

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $1.4225 dividend. This is a positive change from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.35%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is presently 83.68%.

PepsiCo 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.