Novare Capital Management LLC Sells 5,702 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP

Novare Capital Management LLC cut its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 9.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 56,156 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,702 shares during the period. Novare Capital Management LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $8,720,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PEP. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in PepsiCo by 14,857.8% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 49,252,907 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,068,777,000 after purchasing an additional 48,923,629 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in PepsiCo in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,018,813,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 120.7% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,916,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $830,902,000 after buying an additional 3,235,726 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 30.0% in the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 8,641,588 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,207,230,000 after buying an additional 1,995,362 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 138,483,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,875,205,000 after acquiring an additional 1,612,652 shares during the period. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PEP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $190.00 to $186.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on PepsiCo from $160.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 5th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on PepsiCo from $191.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on PepsiCo from $172.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PepsiCo presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $167.10.

PepsiCo Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PEP opened at $140.71 on Tuesday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a one year low of $127.60 and a one year high of $171.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $192.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.09, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.35. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $149.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $152.20.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $19.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.89 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 56.61%. The company’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.48 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. This is an increase from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is presently 92.94%.

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.