RWC Asset Management LLP Reduces Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP

RWC Asset Management LLP reduced its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 173,695 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,075 shares during the period. PepsiCo comprises 1.2% of RWC Asset Management LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. RWC Asset Management LLP’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $24,929,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Cypress Capital Management LLC WY increased its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Cypress Capital Management LLC WY now owns 838 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. United Bank grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. United Bank now owns 1,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Koa Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Koa Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,149,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,807 shares of the company’s stock valued at $254,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Leisure Capital Management grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Leisure Capital Management now owns 11,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,626,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on PEP. Argus upgraded shares of PepsiCo to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Evercore increased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $165.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $154.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $130.00 to $132.00 in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, HSBC raised their price target on PepsiCo from $175.00 to $176.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.58.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PepsiCo stock opened at $141.92 on Monday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $127.60 and a 1 year high of $171.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $152.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $152.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market cap of $193.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.28, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.35.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $19.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.89 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 56.61%. PepsiCo’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.48 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. This is a positive change from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is presently 92.94%.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo, Inc (NASDAQ: PEP) is a multinational food and beverage company headquartered in Purchase, New York. The company develops, manufactures, markets and sells a broad portfolio of branded food and beverage products, including carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks, bottled water, sports drinks, juices, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, salty snacks, cereals, and other convenient foods. Its leading consumer brands include Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Tropicana, Quaker, Lay’s, Doritos and Cheetos, among others.

Formed through the 1965 merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay, PepsiCo has grown into a global business with integrated manufacturing, distribution and marketing operations.