Wright Investors Service Inc. Invests $2.24 Million in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Wright Investors Service Inc. bought a new position in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 13,194 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,241,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PEP. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 34.0% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,128,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,812,000 after acquiring an additional 286,169 shares during the period. AMI Investment Management Inc. increased its stake 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 buying an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 29.3% in the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 5,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $931,000 after acquiring an additional 1,262 shares in the last quarter. Wsfs Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 117.2% during the 1st quarter. Wsfs Capital Management LLC now owns 2,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $501,000 after acquiring an additional 1,616 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Equitable Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 8.5% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PEP stock traded up $1.10 on Thursday, reaching $170.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,420,050 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,666,903. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 52 week low of $155.83 and a 52 week high of $196.88. The company has a market capitalization of $234.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $168.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $167.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

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. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.03% and a net margin of 9.92%. The business had revenue of $27.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.67 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $5.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is currently 77.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on PEP. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target 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. Citigroup upgraded PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a research note 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $186.92.

PepsiCo Company 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.