Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Acquires 22,700 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 9.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 258,857 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,700 shares during the quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $36,354,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PEP. Brighton Jones LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 6,574 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new stake in PepsiCo during the first quarter valued at about $251,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in PepsiCo by 138.5% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $862,000 after purchasing an additional 3,790 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,201,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $158,659,000 after buying an additional 17,139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 8.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,459,000 after buying an additional 830 shares during the period. 73.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. DZ Bank raised shares of PepsiCo from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $167.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $154.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. BNP Paribas Exane set a $191.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $164.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $167.68.

PepsiCo Stock Up 1.3%

PEP opened at $169.15 on Thursday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $127.60 and a 12 month high of $170.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $148.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $146.79. The company has a market cap of $231.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.40.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.24 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $29.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.96 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.92% and a net margin of 8.77%.PepsiCo’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.96 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, February 3rd that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a $1.4225 dividend. This represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 94.83%.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo, Inc (NASDAQ: PEP) is a multinational food and beverage company headquartered in Purchase, New York. The company develops, manufactures, markets and sells a broad portfolio of branded food and beverage products, including carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks, bottled water, sports drinks, juices, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, salty snacks, cereals, and other convenient foods. Its leading consumer brands include Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Tropicana, Quaker, Lay’s, Doritos and Cheetos, among others.

Formed through the 1965 merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay, PepsiCo has grown into a global business with integrated manufacturing, distribution and marketing operations.