Traynor Capital Management Inc. Sells 89 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Traynor Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,895 shares of the company’s stock after selling 89 shares during the period. Traynor Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $492,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. bought a new position in shares of PepsiCo in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in PepsiCo in the third quarter valued at $27,000. West Tower Group LLC acquired a new stake in PepsiCo in the second quarter valued at $36,000. VitalStone Financial LLC acquired a new stake in PepsiCo in the second quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, Pacific Center for Financial Services acquired a new stake in PepsiCo in the first quarter valued at $47,000. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PEP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup upgraded PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $195.00 in a report on Monday, February 12th. Barclays increased their price target on PepsiCo from $179.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $185.00 to $176.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Friday, February 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.77.

PepsiCo Trading Up 0.8 %

PepsiCo stock traded up $1.44 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $175.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,710,539 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,548,546. 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 stock has a market cap of $240.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.53. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $168.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $167.99. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $155.83 and a 12 month high of $196.88.

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

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st will be paid a dividend of $1.265 per share. This represents a $5.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 29th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.02%.

PepsiCo Company Profile

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.