Scotia Capital Inc. Decreases Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Scotia Capital Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 14.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 698,733 shares of the company’s stock after selling 117,081 shares during the quarter. Scotia Capital Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $106,252,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tcfg Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Tcfg Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Lincoln Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Lincoln Capital LLC now owns 16,808 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,556,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Marshall Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 3,128 shares of the company’s stock valued at $476,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Osprey Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Osprey Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,290,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, TAGStone Capital Inc. grew its position in PepsiCo by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. TAGStone Capital Inc. now owns 2,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $388,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PEP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective 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. BNP Paribas lowered their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $162.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $171.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. They issued a $172.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $169.88.

PepsiCo Price Performance

NASDAQ PEP opened at $145.59 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $148.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $156.13. The company has a market cap of $199.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.49. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $138.33 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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.89 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.78 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $1.355 per share. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is currently 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.