E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Cuts Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,366 shares of the company’s stock after selling 769 shares during the quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $2,440,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 59.4% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 993,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $168,747,000 after acquiring an additional 370,122 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in PepsiCo by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,747,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in PepsiCo during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $405,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 1.4% in the third quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 13,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,243,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 34.5% during the fourth quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC now owns 12,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,091,000 after buying an additional 3,159 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PEP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $199.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Argus lowered shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Six equities 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 an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $187.42.

PepsiCo Price Performance

Shares of PepsiCo stock traded up $0.65 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $178.06. The stock had a trading volume of 2,419,686 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,631,904. PepsiCo, Inc. has a twelve month low of $155.83 and a twelve month high of $196.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $244.79 billion, a PE ratio of 26.72, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $170.49 and its 200 day moving average is $168.70.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.09. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.37% and a net margin of 10.00%. The company had revenue of $18.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.50 EPS. PepsiCo’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a $1.355 dividend. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This is a positive change from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is presently 81.50%.

About PepsiCo

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.