Royal Fund Management LLC Reduces Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Royal Fund Management LLC reduced its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 9.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,689 shares of the company’s stock after selling 509 shares during the period. Royal Fund Management LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $796,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PEP. Talbot Financial LLC grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 47,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,097,000 after buying an additional 590 shares in the last quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $987,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 5,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $916,000 after buying an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Prentiss Smith & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Prentiss Smith & Co. Inc. now owns 4,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $784,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Stonegate Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 17,482 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,962,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on PEP shares. Barclays increased their price target on PepsiCo from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on PepsiCo from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Citigroup raised shares of PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley raised PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 target price on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.42.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of PEP stock traded up $0.70 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $176.15. 3,492,120 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,328,097. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12-month low of $155.83 and a 12-month high of $196.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $242.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $170.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $168.26.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.09. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.37% and a net margin of 10.00%. The business had revenue of $18.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.08 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.50 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a $1.355 dividend. This is an increase from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is presently 81.50%.

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.