Hendley & Co. Inc. Sells 4,426 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP

Hendley & Co. Inc. lessened its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 48,254 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,426 shares during the quarter. PepsiCo accounts for about 2.4% of Hendley & Co. Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Hendley & Co. Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $6,925,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PEP. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in PepsiCo by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 59,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,031,000 after acquiring an additional 6,574 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new position in shares of PepsiCo during the 1st quarter worth approximately $251,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 138.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $862,000 after buying an additional 3,790 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 38,164 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,039,000 after buying an additional 3,502 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 45.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 536,133 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,789,000 after buying an additional 167,707 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on PEP shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 18th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $191.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $190.00 to $186.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $165.00 to $163.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $169.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, PepsiCo presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $170.37.

PepsiCo Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:PEP opened at $149.12 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $203.81 billion, a PE ratio of 23.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.38. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $155.25 and its 200 day moving average is $152.42. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $127.60 and a 12 month high of $171.48.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $19.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.89 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 56.61%. PepsiCo’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.48 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.63 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is presently 89.32%.

PepsiCo announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, February 3rd that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

PepsiCo Company Profile

PepsiCo, Inc (NASDAQ: PEP) is a multinational food and beverage company headquartered in Purchase, New York. The company develops, manufactures, markets and sells a broad portfolio of branded food and beverage products, including carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks, bottled water, sports drinks, juices, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, salty snacks, cereals, and other convenient foods. Its leading consumer brands include Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Tropicana, Quaker, Lay’s, Doritos and Cheetos, among others.

Formed through the 1965 merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay, PepsiCo has grown into a global business with integrated manufacturing, distribution and marketing operations.