Acorn Creek Capital LLC Lowers Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Acorn Creek Capital LLC lessened its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 12.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,405 shares of the company’s stock after selling 208 shares during the period. Acorn Creek Capital LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $211,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PEP. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,065 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,359,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. First Bancorp Inc ME raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME now owns 4,782 shares of the company’s stock worth $717,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 332,179 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,807,000 after buying an additional 24,445 shares during the period. Crumly & Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 1,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the period. Finally, Westhampton Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Westhampton Capital LLC now owns 28,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,234,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Dbs Bank downgraded PepsiCo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on PepsiCo from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on PepsiCo from $170.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $171.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on PepsiCo from $143.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $160.69.

PepsiCo Price Performance

Shares of PEP opened at $129.07 on Monday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 52-week low of $127.75 and a 52-week high of $180.91. The company has a market capitalization of $176.97 billion, a PE ratio of 18.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $133.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $143.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.13.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $17.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.81 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.28% and a net margin of 10.24%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.61 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.4225 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This is a boost from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. This represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.41%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 83.68%.

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.