West Branch Capital LLC Trims Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

West Branch Capital LLC trimmed its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 2.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,561 shares of the company’s stock after selling 310 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $2,333,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PEP. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in PepsiCo during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,729,565,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 19,106.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,588,614 shares of the company’s stock valued at $688,017,000 after buying an additional 4,564,723 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in PepsiCo in the 4th quarter valued at $589,307,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in PepsiCo by 18.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,856,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in PepsiCo by 106.1% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,514,965 shares of the company’s stock valued at $527,034,000 after purchasing an additional 1,809,391 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PEP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $170.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $143.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Evercore ISI set a $140.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $171.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Dbs Bank cut shares of PepsiCo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $160.69.

PepsiCo Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of PEP stock opened at $130.85 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $179.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.83, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45. 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $134.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $145.20.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.48 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.81 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.61 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.4225 per share. This represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.35%. This is a positive change from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.68%.

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.