Capital World Investors Buys Shares of 360,436 PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP

Capital World Investors bought a new stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 360,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,730,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cypress Capital Management LLC WY raised its position in PepsiCo by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Cypress Capital Management LLC WY now owns 838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. United Bank raised its position in PepsiCo by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. United Bank now owns 1,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Koa Wealth Management LLC raised its position in PepsiCo by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Koa Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,149,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in PepsiCo by 4.0% in the third quarter. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,807 shares of the company’s stock valued at $254,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Leisure Capital Management increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 0.6% during the third quarter. Leisure Capital Management now owns 11,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,626,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of PEP stock opened at $142.78 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $151.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $152.45. The company has a market cap of $195.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.41, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.35. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $127.60 and a 12 month high of $171.48.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $19.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.89 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 56.61%. The company’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.48 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This is an increase from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is presently 92.94%.

PepsiCo News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting PepsiCo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PepsiCo and Gatik launched a commercial driverless trucking deployment across Texas, Arizona, and Arkansas, signaling potential supply-chain and cost-efficiency benefits. PepsiCo and Gatik launch commercial driverless trucking deployment
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage of PepsiCo’s 41 fully driverless delivery trucks highlighted the company’s progress in autonomous logistics and helped boost investor sentiment. Driverless Trucks Are Here—and They’re Delivering Bags of Doritos
• Neutral Sentiment: Some market commentary suggested PepsiCo may be worth reconsidering after its recent pullback, reflecting a valuation debate rather than a clear new catalyst. Is It Time To Reconsider PepsiCo (PEP) After The Recent 9% Share Price Pullback

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on PepsiCo from $191.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Evercore upped their price objective on PepsiCo from $165.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on PepsiCo from $172.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on PepsiCo from $160.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on PepsiCo from $165.00 to $163.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.58.

About PepsiCo

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.