Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas Sells 95,431 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP

Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas trimmed its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 37.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 158,078 shares of the company’s stock after selling 95,431 shares during the period. PepsiCo accounts for 1.9% of Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas’ holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas’ holdings in PepsiCo were worth $22,200,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PEP. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 136,936,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,081,034,000 after acquiring an additional 1,761,785 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in PepsiCo by 1.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 58,419,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,713,757,000 after purchasing an additional 920,045 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in PepsiCo by 0.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 32,675,492 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,301,240,000 after purchasing an additional 86,695 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in PepsiCo by 9.7% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 29,031,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,833,406,000 after buying an additional 2,556,163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in PepsiCo in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,330,594,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $163.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on PepsiCo from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. HSBC upped their price objective on PepsiCo from $152.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on PepsiCo from $154.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $168.50.

PepsiCo Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of PEP opened at $164.91 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.85. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 52 week low of $127.60 and a 52 week high of $171.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $225.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.49, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $153.98 and a 200-day moving average of $149.07.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $29.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $28.96 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.92% and a net margin of 8.77%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.96 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a $1.4225 dividend. This represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 94.83%.

PepsiCo declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, February 3rd that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

PepsiCo Profile

PepsiCo, Inc (NASDAQ: PEP) is a multinational food and beverage company headquartered in Purchase, New York. The company develops, manufactures, markets and sells a broad portfolio of branded food and beverage products, including carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks, bottled water, sports drinks, juices, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, salty snacks, cereals, and other convenient foods. Its leading consumer brands include Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Tropicana, Quaker, Lay’s, Doritos and Cheetos, among others.

Formed through the 1965 merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay, PepsiCo has grown into a global business with integrated manufacturing, distribution and marketing operations.