PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) Shares Sold by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC cut its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 861,082 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,406 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC owned approximately 0.06% of PepsiCo worth $130,936,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of PepsiCo during the fourth quarter worth about $589,307,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,217,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,834,504,000 after purchasing an additional 3,856,193 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in PepsiCo by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,268,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,738,429,000 after purchasing an additional 2,775,679 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 21.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,021,316 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,293,049,000 after purchasing an additional 2,264,445 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 211.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,345,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $398,847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,592,343 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on PEP shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. CICC Research restated a “market perform” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $153.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $171.00 target price for the company. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on PepsiCo from $183.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $170.59.

PepsiCo Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PEP opened at $148.17 on Thursday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 52-week low of $141.51 and a 52-week high of $183.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap of $203.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $148.82 and its 200-day moving average is $160.37.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.78 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $1.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.66%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.99%.

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.