Golden State Wealth Management LLC Buys 4,216 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 124.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,595 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,216 shares during the quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $1,140,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of PEP opened at $128.02 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $132.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $143.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.83. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 52-week low of $127.63 and a 52-week high of $180.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $175.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.45.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.01). PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.28% and a net margin of 10.24%. The firm had revenue of $17.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.81 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.61 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a $1.4225 dividend. This represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This is an increase from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PEP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their target price on PepsiCo from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $168.00 to $153.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $170.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $171.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $159.75.

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.