Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC Lowers Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC reduced its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 78.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,420 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,160 shares during the period. Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $216,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 104.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,350,000 after purchasing an additional 870,451 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 41,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,323,000 after acquiring an additional 4,712 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 350,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,549,000 after buying an additional 34,633 shares during the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD increased its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,236,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,031,000 after acquiring an additional 61,541 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 147.6% in the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 14,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,229,000 after purchasing an additional 8,759 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of PEP stock opened at $151.37 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12-month low of $141.51 and a 12-month high of $183.41. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $149.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $157.42. The company has a market cap of $207.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.49.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 last year, the company posted $1.78 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $1.355 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PEP. StockNews.com cut shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $171.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. They issued a $172.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on PepsiCo from $180.00 to $160.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.88.

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.