Brave Asset Management Inc. Boosts Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Brave Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 42.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,860 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 551 shares during the quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 0.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 59,055,838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,938,322,000 after purchasing an additional 489,175 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 95,514.1% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 42,876,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,746,023,000 after purchasing an additional 42,831,405 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 26,720,027 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,827,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,629,947 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 5.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,423,845 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,121,736,000 after purchasing an additional 920,032 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 3.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,878,022 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,859,812,000 after purchasing an additional 595,357 shares during the period. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PEP. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Monday, February 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $185.00 to $176.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $187.77.

PepsiCo Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PEP traded up $1.44 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $175.01. The company had a trading volume of 5,710,410 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,942,093. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $168.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $167.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $240.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.64, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.53. PepsiCo, Inc. has a one year low of $155.83 and a one year high of $196.88.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. PepsiCo had a net margin of 9.92% and a return on equity of 58.03%. The firm had revenue of $27.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.67 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st will be paid a dividend of $1.265 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $5.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is 77.02%.

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.