Ballast Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Ballast Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 20.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,907 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,501 shares during the quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $898,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PEP. Collier Financial bought a new position in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of PepsiCo in the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in PepsiCo in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Human Investing LLC bought a new position in PepsiCo during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PEP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $184.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $171.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on PepsiCo from $193.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $180.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.88.

PepsiCo Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PEP opened at $147.15 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $148.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $159.41. PepsiCo, Inc. has a one year low of $141.51 and a one year high of $183.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.17, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.82.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its 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. 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 the consensus estimate of $27.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.78 earnings per share. PepsiCo’s quarterly revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.355 dividend. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is 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.