SG Americas Securities LLC Buys 1,436,216 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP

SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 406.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,789,959 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,436,216 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC owned 0.13% of PepsiCo worth $256,895,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in PepsiCo by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 59,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,031,000 after purchasing an additional 6,574 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new stake in PepsiCo in the first quarter worth $251,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 138.5% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $862,000 after buying an additional 3,790 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 10.1% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 38,164 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,039,000 after buying an additional 3,502 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 862,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,935,000 after buying an additional 50,059 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PEP has been the subject of several recent research reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price objective on PepsiCo from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Evercore lifted their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $152.00 to $165.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of PepsiCo to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.00.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of PEP opened at $150.88 on Tuesday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 52-week low of $127.60 and a 52-week high of $171.48. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $158.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $149.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.39.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.02. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.92% and a net margin of 8.77%.The business had revenue of $29.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.96 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a $1.4225 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 94.83%.

PepsiCo declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, February 3rd that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

PepsiCo 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.