J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Increases Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 49.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,027 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,649 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $2,382,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in PepsiCo by 95,514.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 42,831,405 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in PepsiCo by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 26,720,027 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,827,240,000 after acquiring an additional 4,629,947 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 grew its holdings in 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 PepsiCo in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,519,707,000. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup raised PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $195.00 in a report on Monday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on PepsiCo from $199.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Barclays lifted their price objective on PepsiCo from $183.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $186.92.

PepsiCo Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of PEP stock traded up $1.86 on Friday, hitting $174.13. The stock had a trading volume of 6,636,697 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,502,704. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $239.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.53. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $155.83 and a 1 year high of $196.88. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $168.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $167.45.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.03% and a net margin of 9.92%. The firm had revenue of $27.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.67 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors 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 2.91%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is 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.