Gratus Capital LLC Sells 593 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Gratus Capital LLC reduced its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,228 shares of the company’s stock after selling 593 shares during the period. Gratus Capital LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $1,397,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PEP. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in PepsiCo by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,001,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,227,287,000 after buying an additional 578,083 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in PepsiCo by 3.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,878,022 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,859,812,000 after buying an additional 595,357 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its position in PepsiCo by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 9,664,323 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,641,389,000 after buying an additional 1,470,064 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in PepsiCo by 9.1% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,316,036 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,239,629,000 after buying an additional 608,321 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in PepsiCo by 2.1% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 6,774,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,147,922,000 after buying an additional 142,243 shares in the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

PepsiCo Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PEP traded up $1.73 during trading on Friday, hitting $179.79. The company had a trading volume of 4,201,814 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,119,747. The stock has a market cap of $247.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.52. PepsiCo, Inc. has a one year low of $155.83 and a one year high of $196.88. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $171.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $169.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $18.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.08 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.37% and a net margin of 10.00%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.50 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.355 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. This is a boost from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is presently 76.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on PEP. StockNews.com cut PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Citigroup upgraded PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 target price on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Argus cut PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $187.42.

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.