Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC Acquires 1,780 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 35.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,817 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,780 shares during the period. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $1,158,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in PepsiCo by 59.4% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 993,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $168,747,000 after purchasing an additional 370,122 shares during the period. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in PepsiCo by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,747,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in PepsiCo during the 4th quarter worth $405,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in PepsiCo by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 13,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,243,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Finally, Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC increased its holdings in PepsiCo by 34.5% during the 4th quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC now owns 12,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,091,000 after purchasing an additional 3,159 shares during the period. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PEP has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on PepsiCo from $199.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley upgraded PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, March 18th. Argus downgraded PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup upgraded PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $180.00 to $195.00 in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on PepsiCo from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $186.92.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PEP traded up $2.79 on Thursday, reaching $172.27. 5,573,781 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,722,261. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $168.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $167.38. PepsiCo, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $155.83 and a fifty-two week high of $196.88. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $236.79 billion, a PE ratio of 26.22, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.03% and a net margin of 9.92%. The company had revenue of $27.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $28.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.67 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a dividend of $1.265 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $5.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.02%.

About PepsiCo

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.