E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 9,217 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 41.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 31,200 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,217 shares during the quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $4,744,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Candriam S.C.A. increased its holdings in PepsiCo by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 438,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,622,000 after purchasing an additional 9,910 shares during the period. Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of PepsiCo during the fourth quarter valued at $3,878,000. Inceptionr LLC bought a new stake in shares of PepsiCo in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,732,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth about $589,307,000. Finally, Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new position in PepsiCo during the 4th quarter valued at about $83,000. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PEP. Barclays upped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $153.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on PepsiCo from $184.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. BNP Paribas dropped their price objective on PepsiCo from $162.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $180.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.35.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of PEP stock opened at $154.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The business has a fifty day moving average of $148.77 and a 200 day moving average of $161.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $212.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.52. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $141.51 and a 1 year high of $183.41.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.02. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.87% and a net margin of 10.43%. The firm had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.89 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.78 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.355 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.51%. 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.