Hartford Investment Management Co. Decreases Stock Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Hartford Investment Management Co. decreased its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 84,761 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,508 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $12,889,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Highline Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in PepsiCo during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Collier Financial purchased a new position in PepsiCo in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PepsiCo during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 93.2% during the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 199 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. 73.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on PEP shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $180.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler began coverage on PepsiCo in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $171.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.47.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PEP stock opened at $145.64 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $151.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $163.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $199.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.96, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.82. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $141.51 and a 1 year high of $183.41.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $27.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.89 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.87% and a net margin of 10.43%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.78 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.34 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.355 dividend. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.99%.

About PepsiCo

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.