Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 236,181 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP

Clearbridge Investments LLC reduced its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 30.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 551,984 shares of the company’s stock after selling 236,181 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $79,221,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Cypress Capital Management LLC WY lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Cypress Capital Management LLC WY now owns 838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. United Bank increased its position in PepsiCo by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. United Bank now owns 1,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Koa Wealth Management LLC increased its position in PepsiCo by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Koa Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,149,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in PepsiCo by 4.0% during the third quarter. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,807 shares of the company’s stock valued at $254,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leisure Capital Management increased its position in PepsiCo by 0.6% during the third quarter. Leisure Capital Management now owns 11,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,626,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price objective on PepsiCo from $130.00 to $132.00 in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen cut PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 18th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on PepsiCo from $172.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. HSBC upped their price target on PepsiCo from $175.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on PepsiCo from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.58.

Key Headlines Impacting PepsiCo

Here are the key news stories impacting PepsiCo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PepsiCo and Gatik launched a broader autonomous trucking deployment in North America, with driverless trucks now delivering Doritos in multiple states. The move could improve logistics efficiency, lower delivery costs over time, and highlight PepsiCo’s willingness to adopt automation in its supply chain. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: PepsiCo’s push into India’s energy drink market with Adrenaline Rush expands its exposure to a fast-growing beverage category and adds another growth lever in an important emerging market. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage of competitor Coca-Cola’s pricing strategy and volume trends may reinforce the broader consumer staples backdrop, but it does not directly change PepsiCo’s fundamentals. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles discussed Celsius Holdings’ growth and its reliance on PepsiCo distribution, which indirectly highlights PepsiCo’s distribution strength, but the impact on PEP shares appears limited and indirect. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: A separate article on Campbell’s Soup was incorrectly tagged with PEP and is unrelated to PepsiCo, so it should not be viewed as a catalyst for the stock. Article Title

PepsiCo Price Performance

Shares of PepsiCo stock opened at $140.68 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $152.01 and a 200 day moving average of $152.48. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $127.60 and a 12 month high of $171.48. The firm has a market cap of $192.28 billion, a PE ratio of 22.08, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $19.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.89 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 56.61% and a net margin of 9.15%.The firm’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.48 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is 92.94%.

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.