Schechter Investment Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 35.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,041 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,369 shares during the period. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $919,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PEP. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 5.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 21.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,021,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,293,049,000 after purchasing an additional 2,264,445 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 211.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,345,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $398,847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,592,343 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 360.0% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,697,742 shares of the company’s stock valued at $258,158,000 after purchasing an additional 1,328,672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 62.4% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 3,014,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $458,324,000 after purchasing an additional 1,157,835 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PEP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BNP Paribas cut their price objective on PepsiCo from $162.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $195.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.47.

PepsiCo Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ PEP opened at $155.99 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $148.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $161.33. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $141.51 and a 1 year high of $183.41. The company has a market cap of $213.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.44, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.54.

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

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.355 per share. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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.