PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) Shares Sold by Nixon Peabody Trust Co.

Nixon Peabody Trust Co. lessened its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 36.1% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 56,659 shares of the company’s stock after selling 31,980 shares during the period. Nixon Peabody Trust Co.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $8,495,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ossiam increased its stake in PepsiCo by 138.9% during the fourth quarter. Ossiam now owns 73,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,192,000 after acquiring an additional 42,793 shares during the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp increased its stake in PepsiCo by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 124,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,977,000 after acquiring an additional 13,461 shares during the last quarter. Hutner Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in PepsiCo by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Hutner Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,783 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,178,000 after acquiring an additional 6,865 shares during the last quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in PepsiCo during the fourth quarter worth $47,899,000. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC increased its stake in PepsiCo by 147.6% during the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 14,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,229,000 after acquiring an additional 8,759 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on PEP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on PepsiCo from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on PepsiCo from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Dbs Bank cut PepsiCo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Barclays dropped their price objective on PepsiCo from $143.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $160.69.

PepsiCo Trading Up 0.7%

PEP opened at $131.85 on Wednesday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $127.75 and a 12 month high of $180.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $180.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.97, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $137.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $146.72.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $17.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.81 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.87% and a net margin of 10.43%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.61 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.4225 per share. This represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.32%. This is an increase from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is 83.68%.

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.