PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP Stake Raised by WCG Wealth Advisors LLC

WCG Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 51.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,266 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,220 shares during the period. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $3,483,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PEP. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in PepsiCo during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,018,813,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in PepsiCo by 120.7% in 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 last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 30.0% in the third 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. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $19,875,205,000 after acquiring an additional 1,612,652 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 151.7% during the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 1,565,883 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on PEP shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on PepsiCo from $169.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. UBS Group dropped their price target on PepsiCo from $190.00 to $186.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price objective on PepsiCo from $191.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Argus raised shares of PepsiCo to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $154.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $170.11.

PepsiCo Trading Down 0.3%

PepsiCo stock opened at $142.15 on Friday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $127.60 and a 12 month high of $171.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The stock has a market cap of $194.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.35. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $152.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $152.58.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.06. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 56.61% and a net margin of 9.15%.The business had revenue of $19.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.89 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.48 earnings per share. PepsiCo’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

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

PepsiCo Company 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.