Ieq Capital LLC Trims Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Ieq Capital LLC decreased its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 104,005 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,714 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $15,815,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in PepsiCo by 9.2% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 99,785 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,968,000 after purchasing an additional 8,406 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in PepsiCo by 104.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,350,000 after purchasing an additional 870,451 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in PepsiCo by 11.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 350,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,549,000 after purchasing an additional 34,633 shares during the period. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in PepsiCo by 12.8% in the fourth 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 during the period. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 19.3% in the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,493,000 after buying an additional 5,220 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PEP has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com cut PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on PepsiCo in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. They issued a $172.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on PepsiCo from $195.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on PepsiCo from $184.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, CICC Research reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.47.

PepsiCo Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ:PEP opened at $145.81 on Thursday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $141.51 and a 1 year high of $183.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market cap of $199.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.54. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $149.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $162.60.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.89 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.87% and a net margin of 10.43%. The firm’s revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.78 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.355 dividend. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.99%.

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.