Signature Resources Capital Management LLC Takes $49,000 Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Signature Resources Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PEP. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 80.5% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 157 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in PepsiCo during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Naples Money Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of PepsiCo during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PepsiCo during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Avion Wealth grew its stake in PepsiCo by 61.7% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Argus downgraded PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. StockNews.com lowered PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley raised PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup raised shares of PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $199.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, PepsiCo presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.42.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PepsiCo stock traded up $0.70 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $176.15. 3,492,120 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,328,097. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $170.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $168.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market cap 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. PepsiCo, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $155.83 and a fifty-two week high of $196.88.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.09. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.00% and a return on equity of 57.37%. The company 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 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a $1.355 dividend. This is a boost from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is 81.50%.

PepsiCo 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.