Wealth Alliance Lowers Stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Wealth Alliance lowered its position in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,679 shares of the company’s stock after selling 658 shares during the quarter. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $3,173,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in PepsiCo by 34.0% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,128,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,812,000 after purchasing an additional 286,169 shares during the last quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 0.7% in the first quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,627 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,783,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 29.3% in the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 5,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $931,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262 shares during the last quarter. Wsfs Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 117.2% in the first quarter. Wsfs Capital Management LLC now owns 2,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $501,000 after purchasing an additional 1,616 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Equitable Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in PepsiCo by 8.5% in the first quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. now owns 26,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,504,000 after acquiring an additional 2,116 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PEP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $199.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $176.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $186.92.

PepsiCo Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ PEP traded up $1.21 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $168.16. 2,366,239 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,716,783. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12-month low of $155.83 and a 12-month high of $196.88. 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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $168.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $167.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $231.14 billion, a PE ratio of 25.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.53.

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

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $1.265 dividend. This represents a $5.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. 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.