Ethic Inc. Grows Stake in PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP

Ethic Inc. grew its position in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 16.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 60,121 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,329 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $8,629,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 138,483,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,875,205,000 after purchasing an additional 1,612,652 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 1.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 59,499,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,356,155,000 after purchasing an additional 1,079,970 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 7.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,617,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,912,476,000 after purchasing an additional 958,701 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 1.3% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,902,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,250,290,000 after purchasing an additional 118,286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 30.0% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 8,641,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,207,230,000 after purchasing an additional 1,995,362 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on PEP shares. Wall Street Zen cut PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on PepsiCo from $154.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on PepsiCo from $165.00 to $163.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $170.26.

PepsiCo Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of PepsiCo stock opened at $154.62 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. PepsiCo, Inc. has a twelve month low of $127.60 and a twelve month high of $171.48. The company has a market cap of $211.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s 50 day moving average is $157.25 and its 200 day moving average is $152.50.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $19.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.89 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 56.61%. The company’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.48 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.63 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 89.32%.

PepsiCo announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, February 3rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

More PepsiCo News

Here are the key news stories impacting PepsiCo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PepsiCo announced a new partnership in the UAE’s Future Industries Lab to support SMEs and young Emiratis, reinforcing its innovation and local investment strategy. MoIAT expands Future Industries Lab with new PepsiCo partnership supporting SMEs and young Emiratis
• Positive Sentiment: PepsiCo and TalusAg Renewables announced a low-carbon ammonia agreement, an ESG-oriented move that could improve supply-chain sustainability and appeal to investors focused on emissions reduction. PepsiCo and TalusAg Renewables announce low-carbon ammonia attribute agreement to help accelerate fertilizer decarbonization
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple articles highlighted PepsiCo’s continued investment in China and its focus on international growth, product innovation, and cost discipline, which supports the long-term bull case. PepsiCo to ‘continue investing’ in Chinese market

PepsiCo Company 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.