Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Raises Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its position in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 22.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,247,779 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 232,000 shares during the quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $189,737,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Collier Financial bought a new stake in PepsiCo during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of PepsiCo during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC purchased a new stake in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in PepsiCo during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PepsiCo Trading Up 1.2 %

PEP stock opened at $143.46 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $196.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.49. PepsiCo, Inc. has a twelve month low of $138.33 and a twelve month high of $183.41. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $148.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $154.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $27.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.89 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.87% and a net margin of 10.43%. The business’s revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.78 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $1.355 per share. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is 77.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PEP. UBS Group lowered their price objective on PepsiCo from $193.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. CICC Research reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on PepsiCo from $185.00 to $168.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on PepsiCo from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $167.24.

PepsiCo Profile

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.