Conscious Wealth Investments LLC Grows Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Conscious Wealth Investments LLC grew its position in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,609 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $2,165,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in PepsiCo by 5.1% during 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. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,497,268 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,170,529,000 after buying an additional 543,558 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 21,360,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,632,413,000 after buying an additional 1,125,059 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in PepsiCo by 21.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,021,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,293,049,000 after acquiring an additional 2,264,445 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in PepsiCo by 2.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,098,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,057,359,000 after acquiring an additional 313,468 shares during the period. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PEP. BNP Paribas dropped their target price 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. UBS Group lowered their price objective on PepsiCo from $193.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on PepsiCo from $185.00 to $168.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. CICC Research reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on PepsiCo from $158.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.47.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PepsiCo stock opened at $153.50 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $148.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $162.11. The stock has a market cap of $210.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.65. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1-year low of $141.51 and a 1-year high of $183.41.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.78 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. 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.