PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP Holdings Raised by Savvy Advisors Inc.

Savvy Advisors Inc. increased its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 49.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 20,615 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 6,861 shares during the quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $2,895,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of PepsiCo in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,330,594,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 14,420.2% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,890,688 shares of the company’s stock worth $513,726,000 after purchasing an additional 3,863,893 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in PepsiCo by 9.7% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 29,031,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,833,406,000 after purchasing an additional 2,556,163 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 19.5% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 15,577,073 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,056,797,000 after purchasing an additional 2,541,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 112.6% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,040,079 shares of the company’s stock valued at $533,452,000 after purchasing an additional 2,139,847 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PEP. Barclays upped their price objective on PepsiCo from $148.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of PepsiCo from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $167.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. BNP Paribas Exane set a $191.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $154.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $167.68.

PepsiCo Price Performance

NASDAQ PEP opened at $169.15 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $127.60 and a 1 year high of $170.75. The company has a market cap of $231.17 billion, a PE ratio of 28.19, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.40. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $148.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $146.79.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.24 by $0.02. PepsiCo had a net margin of 8.77% and a return on equity of 57.92%. The business had revenue of $29.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.96 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.96 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $1.4225 per share. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is 94.83%.

PepsiCo declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 3rd that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.