PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) Shares Bought by Kesler Norman & Wride LLC

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC grew its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,793 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 593 shares during the quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $2,098,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,371,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,280,471,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376,133 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,775,679 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in PepsiCo by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,079,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,717,069,000 after buying an additional 582,254 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in PepsiCo by 18.1% in 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 buying an additional 3,856,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of PepsiCo during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,729,565,000. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on PEP. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped 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. CICC Research reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays downgraded shares of PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $168.00 to $156.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $180.00 to $160.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on PepsiCo from $193.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.88.

PepsiCo Price Performance

PepsiCo stock opened at $149.67 on Wednesday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $141.51 and a 1 year high of $183.41. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $149.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $157.52. The company has a market cap of $205.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.54, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.82.

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

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $1.355 dividend. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is 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.