PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) Shares Sold by Conning Inc.

Conning Inc. trimmed its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 202,339 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,926 shares during the quarter. Conning Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $34,298,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 95,514.1% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 42,876,248 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,746,023,000 after purchasing an additional 42,831,405 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in PepsiCo during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,519,707,000. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 26,720,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,827,240,000 after acquiring an additional 4,629,947 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 9,623.6% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,058,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $519,381,000 after acquiring an additional 3,026,611 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in PepsiCo during the 3rd quarter worth $329,179,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on PEP shares. StockNews.com lowered PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $199.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $186.92.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PEP traded down $0.26 during trading on Friday, reaching $168.10. The stock had a trading volume of 5,453,736 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,733,164. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market cap of $231.06 billion, a PE ratio of 25.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.53. PepsiCo, Inc. has a one year low of $155.83 and a one year high of $196.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $168.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $167.41.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $27.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.67 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

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

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.