PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP Shares Bought by Viking Fund Management LLC

Viking Fund Management LLC increased its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 131,000 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,000 shares during the quarter. PepsiCo comprises approximately 2.2% of Viking Fund Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Viking Fund Management LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $18,398,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 136,936,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,081,034,000 after purchasing an additional 1,761,785 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 1.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 58,419,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,713,757,000 after acquiring an additional 920,045 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 32,675,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,301,240,000 after acquiring an additional 86,695 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 9.7% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 29,031,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,833,406,000 after acquiring an additional 2,556,163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of PepsiCo in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,330,594,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on PEP shares. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $172.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on PepsiCo from $146.00 to $145.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price target on PepsiCo from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on PepsiCo from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $158.75.

PepsiCo Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of PepsiCo stock opened at $148.16 on Friday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a twelve month low of $127.60 and a twelve month high of $160.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $202.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.17, a PEG ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $148.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.94.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 8th. The company reported $2.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $23.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.91 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.58% and a net margin of 7.82%.The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.31 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 6th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a $1.4225 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 108.17%.

PepsiCo Profile

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.