Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes $32.68 Million Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 192,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,677,000. PepsiCo accounts for 0.7% of Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 95,514.1% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 42,876,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,746,023,000 after purchasing an additional 42,831,405 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 26,720,027 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,827,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,629,947 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 5.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,423,845 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,121,736,000 after purchasing an additional 920,032 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 3.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,878,022 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,859,812,000 after purchasing an additional 595,357 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of PepsiCo in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,519,707,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PEP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Citigroup upgraded shares of PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $185.00 to $176.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 target price on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, PepsiCo currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $186.92.

PepsiCo Trading Down 0.2 %

PepsiCo stock traded down $0.26 during trading on Friday, reaching $168.10. The company had a trading volume of 5,453,736 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,733,164. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12-month low of $155.83 and a 12-month high of $196.88. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $168.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $167.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $231.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.59, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.85.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. PepsiCo had a net margin of 9.92% and a return on equity of 58.03%. The company had revenue of $27.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.67 earnings per share. PepsiCo’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $1.265 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $5.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.02%.

About PepsiCo

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.