Blue Chip Partners LLC Trims Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Blue Chip Partners LLC cut its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 10.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,620 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,107 shares during the quarter. Blue Chip Partners LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $9,218,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PEP. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 17,113.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,220,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $547,626,000 after purchasing an additional 3,201,676 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,268,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,738,429,000 after buying an additional 2,775,679 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in PepsiCo by 21.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,021,316 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,293,049,000 after buying an additional 2,264,445 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 211.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,345,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,847,000 after acquiring an additional 1,592,343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 360.0% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,697,742 shares of the company’s stock valued at $258,158,000 after acquiring an additional 1,328,672 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on PEP. HSBC cut their price objective on PepsiCo from $186.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $185.00 to $168.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on PepsiCo from $180.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered 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, Piper Sandler began coverage on PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $171.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.47.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PepsiCo stock opened at $143.39 on Monday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $141.51 and a fifty-two week high of $183.41. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $149.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $163.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $196.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.54.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $27.78 billion for 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 revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.78 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.34 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

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