PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP Shares Bought by Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 90.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 94,652 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,824 shares during the quarter. PepsiCo comprises 0.8% of Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $13,584,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PEP. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in PepsiCo by 120.7% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,916,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $830,902,000 after buying an additional 3,235,726 shares during the period. Amundi grew its position in PepsiCo by 30.0% during the third quarter. Amundi now owns 8,641,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,207,230,000 after buying an additional 1,995,362 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in PepsiCo by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 138,483,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,875,205,000 after buying an additional 1,612,652 shares during the period. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 151.7% in the third quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 2,597,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $364,861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,565,883 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 406.0% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,789,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $256,895,000 after purchasing an additional 1,436,216 shares in the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting PepsiCo

Here are the key news stories impacting PepsiCo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PepsiCo’s innovation push in functional snacks, better-for-you drinks, and refreshed core brands could help reaccelerate growth in 2026 if execution improves. Can PepsiCo’s Innovation Push Reignite its Growth in 2026?
• Positive Sentiment: Industry commentary says PepsiCo has pricing power and brand strength to navigate tariff and cost pressures, which supports the long-term earnings outlook. Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Monster Beverage, Fomento Economico Mexicano and Vita Coco
• Neutral Sentiment: PepsiCo’s CPO comments about hiring agile, curious employees in the AI era point to a shift in talent strategy, but this is unlikely to move the stock much by itself. The use of AI in food NPD is changing
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts have slightly trimmed PepsiCo’s fair value estimate while others raised targets, signaling a mixed but still broadly constructive outlook. How The PepsiCo (PEP) Story Is Shifting As Analysts Rework Targets And Assumptions
• Negative Sentiment: PepsiCo stock underperformed peers, reinforcing concerns that investors are rotating away from the name amid slower sentiment and competitive worries. PepsiCo Inc. stock underperforms Tuesday when compared to competitors
• Negative Sentiment: A new Walmart soda line adds another competitor in a market where younger consumers are increasingly buying functional beverages, which could pressure Pepsi’s share. New Walmart soda line takes on Coca-Cola and PepsiCo
• Negative Sentiment: Planned snack price increases could support margins, but they also highlight ongoing input-cost pressure and may risk demand softness if consumers trade down. Bloomberg Reports PepsiCo Preparing New Snack Price Increases for Late June

Analyst Ratings Changes

PEP has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $190.00 to $186.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $172.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $169.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $170.11.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of PEP opened at $145.68 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company has a market capitalization of $199.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.87, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $153.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $152.59. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $127.60 and a 1 year high of $171.48.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.06. PepsiCo had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 56.61%. The company had revenue of $19.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.48 earnings per share. PepsiCo’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.63 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This is an increase from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 92.94%.

PepsiCo announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, February 3rd that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are 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.