Frederick Financial Consultants LLC Purchases 268 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Frederick Financial Consultants LLC increased its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 17.1% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,838 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 268 shares during the period. Frederick Financial Consultants LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $276,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PEP. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in PepsiCo by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 59,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,031,000 after buying an additional 6,574 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its holdings in PepsiCo by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 470,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,527,000 after buying an additional 11,538 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in PepsiCo by 22.7% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,449 shares of the company’s stock valued at $677,000 after buying an additional 824 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in PepsiCo by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 122,510 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,767,000 after buying an additional 13,857 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC increased its holdings in PepsiCo by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 24,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,747,000 after buying an additional 754 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PepsiCo Price Performance

PepsiCo stock opened at $135.35 on Thursday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12-month low of $127.60 and a 12-month high of $180.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $131.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $141.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $185.58 billion, a PE ratio of 19.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.18 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.13.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.08. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 58.28%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th were given a dividend of $1.4225 per share. This is an increase from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.20%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PEP. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Evercore ISI set a $140.00 target price on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $150.00 to $139.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $135.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $158.00.

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.