Legacy Trust Sells 176 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Legacy Trust lowered its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 9,753 shares of the company’s stock after selling 176 shares during the period. Legacy Trust’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $1,462,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rockland Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 9.2% during the first quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 310,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,600,000 after acquiring an additional 26,173 shares in the last quarter. Ballew Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in shares of PepsiCo during the first quarter worth $857,000. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 1.5% in the first quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 397,843 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,653,000 after buying an additional 5,799 shares in the last quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 6.1% in the first quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC now owns 48,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,242,000 after buying an additional 2,786 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 5.3% in the first quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 48,990 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,346,000 after buying an additional 2,458 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on PEP shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $163.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Dbs Bank downgraded PepsiCo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on PepsiCo from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on PepsiCo from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on PepsiCo from $143.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $160.69.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PepsiCo stock opened at $132.30 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $134.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $145.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market cap of $181.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.04, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45. PepsiCo, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $127.75 and a fifty-two week high of $180.91.

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

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.4225 per share. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.30%. This is a positive change from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.68%.

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.