WASHINGTON TRUST Co Boosts Stock Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co lifted its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 116,740 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the period. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $19,825,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 34.0% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,128,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,812,000 after acquiring an additional 286,169 shares during the last quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 0.7% during the first quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,627 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,783,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 29.3% during the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 5,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $931,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262 shares during the period. Wsfs Capital Management LLC increased its stake in PepsiCo by 117.2% in the 1st quarter. Wsfs Capital Management LLC now owns 2,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $501,000 after buying an additional 1,616 shares during the period. Finally, Equitable Holdings Inc. boosted its position in PepsiCo by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. now owns 26,909 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,504,000 after buying an additional 2,116 shares during the period. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Citigroup raised shares of PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 target price on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on PepsiCo from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $187.77.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PepsiCo stock traded up $0.49 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $173.22. The company had a trading volume of 2,155,663 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,898,344. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12-month low of $155.83 and a 12-month high of $196.88. The company’s fifty day moving average is $167.83 and its 200-day moving average is $167.98. The company has a market capitalization of $238.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.53.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.03% and a net margin of 9.92%. The firm had revenue of $27.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.67 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st will be issued a $1.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $5.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is currently 77.02%.

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.