Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Purchases 250,696 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 7,891.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 253,873 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 250,696 shares during the quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $36,619,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 221.6% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 9,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,374,000 after acquiring an additional 6,599 shares during the last quarter. L2 Asset Management LLC raised its position in PepsiCo by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. L2 Asset Management LLC now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. 71 West Capital Partners bought a new stake in PepsiCo during the fourth quarter worth about $810,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new position in shares of PepsiCo during the 4th quarter valued at about $111,000. Finally, Oarsman Capital Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 12,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,797,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

PepsiCo Trading Up 1.4%

NASDAQ:PEP opened at $146.25 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $199.89 billion, a PE ratio of 22.96, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.72. PepsiCo, Inc. has a one year low of $127.60 and a one year high of $171.48. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $150.90 and a 200-day moving average of $152.42.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.06. PepsiCo had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 56.61%. The company had revenue of $19.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.48 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is an increase from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is 92.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on PepsiCo from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $169.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Evercore lifted their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $165.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Friday, April 17th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $191.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on PepsiCo from $190.00 to $186.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, PepsiCo presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $167.35.

About PepsiCo

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.