JPL Wealth Management LLC Acquires Shares of 20,689 PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 20,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,146,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,268,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,738,429,000 after purchasing an additional 2,775,679 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,497,268 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,170,529,000 after purchasing an additional 543,558 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,217,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,834,504,000 after purchasing an additional 3,856,193 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,013,158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,130,841,000 after purchasing an additional 689,383 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in PepsiCo by 21.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,021,316 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,293,049,000 after acquiring an additional 2,264,445 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on PEP shares. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $171.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $180.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $184.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $162.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $170.59.

PepsiCo Price Performance

PEP opened at $148.17 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $148.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $160.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.82. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $141.51 and a 1 year high of $183.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $203.22 billion, a PE ratio of 21.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.52.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.02. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. The firm had revenue of $27.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.78 earnings per share. PepsiCo’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.66%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.99%.

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.