Apella Capital LLC Grows Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Apella Capital LLC increased its position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 126.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 22,596 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,601 shares during the quarter. Apella Capital LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $3,290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new stake in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth $224,000. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 59,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,031,000 after acquiring an additional 6,574 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth $9,268,000. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 21.2% in the fourth quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,988 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,671,000 after acquiring an additional 1,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Optas LLC boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Optas LLC now owns 4,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $618,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Evercore ISI set a $140.00 target price on PepsiCo in a report on Thursday, April 24th. CICC Research restated a “market perform” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on PepsiCo from $168.00 to $153.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on PepsiCo from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $160.69.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PEP opened at $131.85 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $137.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $146.72. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 52-week low of $127.75 and a 52-week high of $180.91. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $180.78 billion, a PE ratio of 18.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.47.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.01). PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. The company had revenue of $17.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.61 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.4225 per share. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This is a positive change from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is currently 83.68%.

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.