Empire Life Investments Inc. Raises Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Empire Life Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 112,427 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,861 shares during the quarter. Empire Life Investments Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $17,096,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PEP. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 15.8% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 293,824 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,016,000 after purchasing an additional 40,031 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 211.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,345,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,592,343 shares during the last quarter. SPC Financial Inc. grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 5.2% in the third quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 3,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Bfsg LLC grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 1.6% in the third quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 12,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,187,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Good Life Advisors LLC grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 74.9% in the third quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 6,221 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,058,000 after purchasing an additional 2,664 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on PEP shares. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $171.00 price target on the stock. HSBC lowered their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $186.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. They set a $172.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $193.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.47.

PepsiCo Stock Down 0.8 %

PEP stock opened at $143.39 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $196.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.54. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $150.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $163.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 52 week low of $141.51 and a 52 week high of $183.41.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.89 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.78 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.355 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.78%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.99%.

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.