PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) Holdings Trimmed by Ruggaard & Associates LLC

Ruggaard & Associates LLC lessened its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,901 shares of the company’s stock after selling 98 shares during the quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $441,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 104.2% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,350,000 after buying an additional 870,451 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 41,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,323,000 after purchasing an additional 4,712 shares in the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,236,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,031,000 after acquiring an additional 61,541 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 147.6% in the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 14,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,229,000 after purchasing an additional 8,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 48.2% in the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 56,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,529,000 after buying an additional 18,250 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in 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 report on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $195.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays cut PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $168.00 to $156.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on PepsiCo from $180.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler initiated coverage on PepsiCo in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $171.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $169.88.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of PEP opened at $146.61 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $149.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $157.07. 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 twelve month low of $141.51 and a twelve month high of $183.41. The firm has a market cap of $201.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.09, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.49.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.89 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.87% and a net margin of 10.43%. The company’s revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.78 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $1.355 dividend. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.