PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) Stake Raised by J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 49.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 14,027 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,649 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $2,382,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 95,514.1% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 42,876,248 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,746,023,000 after purchasing an additional 42,831,405 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 26,720,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,827,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,629,947 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 5.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,423,845 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,121,736,000 after purchasing an additional 920,032 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 3.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,878,022 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,859,812,000 after buying an additional 595,357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of PepsiCo in the fourth quarter valued at $2,519,707,000. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

PepsiCo Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ PEP traded up $1.86 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $174.13. The company had a trading volume of 6,636,697 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,502,704. PepsiCo, Inc. has a twelve month low of $155.83 and a twelve month high of $196.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $239.34 billion, a PE ratio of 26.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.53. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $168.68 and its 200-day moving average is $167.45.

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

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a dividend of $1.265 per share. This represents a $5.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is 77.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PEP has been the topic of several research reports. Argus cut PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays upped their price target on PepsiCo from $183.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on PepsiCo from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $199.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $186.92.

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.