First Bank & Trust Raises Stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

First Bank & Trust raised its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 145.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,915 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,725 shares during the quarter. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $443,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 293,824 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,016,000 after purchasing an additional 40,031 shares during the period. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 211.4% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,345,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,592,343 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its stake in PepsiCo by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 4,568 shares of the company’s stock worth $777,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Fulcrum Capital LLC lifted its stake in PepsiCo by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fulcrum Capital LLC now owns 49,465 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,412,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McAdam LLC lifted its stake in PepsiCo by 21.0% during the 3rd quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 2,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $351,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on PEP. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on PepsiCo from $185.00 to $168.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. CICC Research reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup decreased their target price on PepsiCo from $195.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays decreased their target price on PepsiCo from $158.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, HSBC reduced their price target on PepsiCo from $186.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.47.

PepsiCo Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PEP opened at $149.10 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $141.51 and a fifty-two week high of $183.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $204.49 billion, a PE ratio of 21.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.54. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $148.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $162.49.

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

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.355 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio 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.