Anchor Capital Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Anchor Capital Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 94,753 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,415 shares during the period. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $16,093,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 80.5% in the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 157 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new stake in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in PepsiCo during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Avion Wealth raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 61.7% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 241 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PEP has been the topic of several research reports. Argus lowered PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $178.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $199.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Citigroup upgraded shares of PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $195.00 in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on PepsiCo from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.42.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of PEP stock traded up $0.56 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $176.14. 3,199,009 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,822,914. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12-month low of $155.83 and a 12-month high of $196.88. The company has a market cap of $242.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $169.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.09. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.37% and a net margin of 10.00%. The business had revenue of $18.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.08 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.50 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $1.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $5.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.09%.

PepsiCo Company Profile

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.