Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC Sells 3,387 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 179,535 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,387 shares during the period. PepsiCo comprises about 1.1% of Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $27,300,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PEP. Tcfg Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Tcfg Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Lincoln Capital LLC increased its holdings in PepsiCo by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Lincoln Capital LLC now owns 16,808 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,556,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 3,128 shares of the company’s stock worth $476,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Osprey Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Osprey Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,290,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TAGStone Capital Inc. increased its stake in PepsiCo by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. TAGStone Capital Inc. now owns 2,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $388,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on PepsiCo from $184.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. BNP Paribas lowered their price objective on PepsiCo from $162.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on PepsiCo from $185.00 to $168.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, PepsiCo has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.88.

PepsiCo Price Performance

PEP opened at $140.30 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $148.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $156.39. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.15 and a 12-month high of $183.41. The firm has a market cap of $192.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.19, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05.

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

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $1.355 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.86%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is currently 77.99%.

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.