Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 12,356 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 0.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,716,571 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,356 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $232,424,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Evergreen Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in PepsiCo in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Gunpowder Capital Management LLC dba Oliver Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of PepsiCo during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Swiss RE Ltd. bought a new position in shares of PepsiCo during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Networth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in PepsiCo by 2,857.1% in the first quarter. Networth Advisors LLC now owns 207 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 99.1% in the first quarter. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. now owns 217 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on PEP shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $162.00 to $152.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Evercore set a $150.00 price objective on PepsiCo in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.90.

Insider Transactions at PepsiCo

In other news, EVP David Flavell sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.54, for a total value of $404,666.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 74,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,441,080.50. This represents a 3.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

PepsiCo Trading Down 0.4%

PepsiCo stock opened at $142.08 on Friday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $133.73 and a 12 month high of $171.48. The company has a market capitalization of $193.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.35. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $140.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $150.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 9th. The company reported $2.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $24.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.95 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 54.63% and a net margin of 10.78%.The company’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.92 earnings per share. PepsiCo has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.550-8.710 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.59%.

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.