L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP Sells 504 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP lessened its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 1.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,692 shares of the company’s stock after selling 504 shares during the period. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $6,851,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in PepsiCo by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,371,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,280,471,000 after buying an additional 1,376,133 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in PepsiCo by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,079,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,717,069,000 after buying an additional 582,254 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in PepsiCo by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,217,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,834,504,000 after buying an additional 3,856,193 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in PepsiCo during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,729,565,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in PepsiCo by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,403,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,494,300,000 after buying an additional 1,306,818 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PEP. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on PepsiCo from $168.00 to $153.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Dbs Bank lowered PepsiCo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Bank of America reduced their target price on PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on PepsiCo from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $171.00 to $170.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $160.69.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PEP stock opened at $131.74 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $180.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.47. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $127.75 and a 1 year high of $180.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $136.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $146.62.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $17.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.81 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.87% and a net margin of 10.43%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.61 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $1.4225 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This is an increase from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.32%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is 83.68%.

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.