Handelsbanken Fonder AB Lowers Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lowered its position in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 3.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 536,352 shares of the company’s stock after selling 19,089 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $75,325,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PEP. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 59,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,031,000 after purchasing an additional 6,574 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new stake in PepsiCo during the first quarter worth about $251,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in PepsiCo by 138.5% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $862,000 after buying an additional 3,790 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. increased its holdings in PepsiCo by 10.1% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 38,164 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,039,000 after buying an additional 3,502 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Research LLC boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 13.1% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Research LLC now owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $342,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on PEP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on PepsiCo from $164.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price target on PepsiCo from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $163.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Argus upgraded shares of PepsiCo to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, HSBC upped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $152.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $168.00.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PEP opened at $167.58 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $152.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $148.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $229.02 billion, a PE ratio of 27.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.40. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $127.60 and a 12 month high of $171.48.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $29.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.96 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 8.77% and a return on equity of 57.92%. PepsiCo’s revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.96 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a $1.4225 dividend. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is presently 94.83%.

PepsiCo declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, February 3rd that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

More PepsiCo News

Here are the key news stories impacting PepsiCo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Poppi — PepsiCo’s soda brand Poppi launched in the UK, its first expansion outside the U.S., via production and distribution with bottling partner Carlsberg Britvic; that expands international growth avenues for a branded, better-for-you beverage which can help top-line and brand momentum. poppi lands in the UK
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend appeal — multiple dividend-focused outlets include PepsiCo on lists of yield/ dividend-growth stocks, reinforcing its status as a steady income play and potentially drawing buying from income-oriented investors. Got $10,000? Put It in These Dividend Stocks Now 2 Consumer Dividend Stocks to Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Marketing push — PepsiCo is using TikTok creators to boost social engagement for its brands, a low-cost tactic that can lift short-term awareness and support volume for targeted SKUs. PepsiCo turns to TikTok stars
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor attention and comparisons — Zacks and other outlets note elevated investor search/coverage of PEP and publish comparisons vs. Coca‑Cola on valuation and business mix; these pieces raise debate but don’t immediately change fundamentals. Investors Heavily Search PepsiCo PepsiCo vs. Coca‑Cola
• Neutral Sentiment: Digital/tech profile — a new enterprise technology report highlights PepsiCo’s digital initiatives and e‑commerce opportunities; useful for long-term strategy but not an immediate earnings driver. PepsiCo Enterprise Technology Analysis Report 2025
• Negative Sentiment: Rising short interest — short interest increased ~25.5% in February to roughly 29.7M shares (~2.2% of float), signaling growing bearish bets that can pressure the stock and amplify downside on weak days (short-interest ratio ~2.6 days). (Internal trading data)
• Negative Sentiment: Proxy suit and animal‑welfare dispute — a Bloomberg Law report says a proxy suit was halted after PepsiCo relented on an animal-welfare-related demand; halting the suit reduces legal uncertainty but the fact the company conceded could worry governance-focused investors. PepsiCo animal welfare proxy suit halted

PepsiCo Company Profile

PepsiCo, Inc (NASDAQ: PEP) is a multinational food and beverage company headquartered in Purchase, New York. The company develops, manufactures, markets and sells a broad portfolio of branded food and beverage products, including carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks, bottled water, sports drinks, juices, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, salty snacks, cereals, and other convenient foods. Its leading consumer brands include Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Tropicana, Quaker, Lay’s, Doritos and Cheetos, among others.

Formed through the 1965 merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay, PepsiCo has grown into a global business with integrated manufacturing, distribution and marketing operations.