Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Acquires 121 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,298 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $730,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Jacobsen Capital Management raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobsen Capital Management now owns 2,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $407,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Northstar Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northstar Asset Management LLC now owns 18,288 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,099,000 after buying an additional 1,914 shares during the last quarter. Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 0.7% during the third quarter. Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. now owns 94,956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,089,000 after acquiring an additional 631 shares in the last quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 21.4% in the third quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 5,909 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mastrapasqua Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mastrapasqua Asset Management Inc. now owns 57,239 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,699,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on PEP shares. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Citigroup upgraded PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Argus downgraded PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.42.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PEP traded down $0.61 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $177.41. 3,266,716 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,666,272. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $155.83 and a 1 year high of $196.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $170.49 and a 200 day moving average of $168.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $243.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.86.

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

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $1.355 dividend. This is a boost from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.