South Dakota Investment Council Sells 700 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

South Dakota Investment Council cut its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 35,318 shares of the company’s stock after selling 700 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $5,998,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 37,322 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,249,000 after buying an additional 1,088 shares during the last quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. now owns 6,393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,093,000 after buying an additional 837 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of PepsiCo in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,963,000. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas now owns 43,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,341,000 after buying an additional 1,282 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in PepsiCo by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 15,922 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,704,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares during the period. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PEP. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on PepsiCo from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Citigroup upgraded PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Argus lowered PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on PepsiCo from $199.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.33.

PepsiCo Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ PEP traded up $5.77 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $176.99. The company had a trading volume of 6,397,338 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,800,756. The stock has a market capitalization of $243.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1-year low of $155.83 and a 1-year high of $196.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $168.84 and its 200-day moving average is $167.63.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $18.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.08 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.03% and a net margin of 9.92%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.50 EPS. On average, analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $1.265 per share. This represents a $5.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is 77.02%.

PepsiCo Company 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.