PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) Position Cut by Advisors Preferred LLC

Advisors Preferred LLC reduced its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 11.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,854 shares of the company’s stock after selling 386 shares during the quarter. Advisors Preferred LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $429,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 17,113.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,220,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $547,626,000 after acquiring an additional 3,201,676 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in PepsiCo by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,268,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,738,429,000 after purchasing an additional 2,775,679 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in PepsiCo by 21.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,021,316 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,293,049,000 after purchasing an additional 2,264,445 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its stake in PepsiCo by 211.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,345,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,592,343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in PepsiCo by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 21,360,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,632,413,000 after purchasing an additional 1,125,059 shares in the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. CICC Research reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Friday. HSBC lowered their target price on PepsiCo from $186.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group lowered their target price on PepsiCo from $193.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their target price on PepsiCo from $180.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.47.

PepsiCo Stock Down 0.5 %

PEP opened at $144.58 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $151.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $164.10. PepsiCo, Inc. has a twelve month low of $141.51 and a twelve month high of $183.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $198.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.54.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.02. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.87% and a net margin of 10.43%. The firm had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.78 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.34 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.355 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.75%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.99%.

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.