Beacon Financial Group Sells 928 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Beacon Financial Group decreased its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 7.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,695 shares of the company’s stock after selling 928 shares during the period. Beacon Financial Group’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $1,753,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,371,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,280,471,000 after buying an additional 1,376,133 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in PepsiCo by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,079,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,717,069,000 after acquiring an additional 582,254 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in PepsiCo by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,217,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,834,504,000 after purchasing an additional 3,856,193 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of PepsiCo during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,729,565,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,403,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,494,300,000 after purchasing an additional 1,306,818 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PEP has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Dbs Bank cut shares of PepsiCo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. CICC Research reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on PepsiCo from $170.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on PepsiCo from $168.00 to $153.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, PepsiCo has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $160.69.

PepsiCo Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of PepsiCo stock opened at $131.74 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $136.92 and its 200 day moving average is $146.62. PepsiCo, Inc. has a one year low of $127.75 and a one year high of $180.91. The firm has a market cap of $180.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.96, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $17.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.81 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.87% and a net margin of 10.43%. PepsiCo’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.61 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate 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 paid a $1.4225 dividend. This is an increase from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is 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.