PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) Shares Purchased by Ballast Inc.

Ballast Inc. boosted its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 108.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 8,242 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,297 shares during the quarter. Ballast Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $1,400,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in PepsiCo by 34.0% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,128,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,812,000 after purchasing an additional 286,169 shares in the last quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. grew its position in PepsiCo by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,627 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,783,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 29.3% during the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 5,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $931,000 after acquiring an additional 1,262 shares in the last quarter. Wsfs Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 117.2% during the 1st quarter. Wsfs Capital Management LLC now owns 2,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $501,000 after acquiring an additional 1,616 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Equitable Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. now owns 26,909 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,504,000 after acquiring an additional 2,116 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $185.00 to $176.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 target price on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Friday, February 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $187.77.

PepsiCo Price Performance

Shares of PEP stock traded up $1.44 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $175.01. 5,710,410 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,942,093. PepsiCo, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $155.83 and a fifty-two week high of $196.88. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $168.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $167.99. The company has a market cap of $240.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. PepsiCo had a net margin of 9.92% and a return on equity of 58.03%. The business had revenue of $27.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.67 earnings per share. PepsiCo’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st will be issued a $1.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $5.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.