PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP Stock Holdings Lessened by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,952,200 shares of the company’s stock after selling 198,900 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $555,047,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PEP. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new position in shares of PepsiCo in the third quarter worth $5,976,000. LGT Group Foundation grew its stake in PepsiCo by 4.0% in the third quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 327,654 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,900,000 after purchasing an additional 12,528 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its position in PepsiCo by 15.6% in the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,005,459 shares of the company’s stock worth $140,935,000 after purchasing an additional 135,345 shares during the last quarter. SNS Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. SNS Financial Group LLC now owns 3,352 shares of the company’s stock worth $471,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flavin Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 18.8% during the 3rd quarter. Flavin Financial Services Inc. now owns 9,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,383,000 after buying an additional 1,558 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PEP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Argus upgraded PepsiCo to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of PepsiCo from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane set a $191.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $168.50.

PepsiCo Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of PEP stock opened at $159.43 on Monday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $127.60 and a 12 month high of $171.48. The company has a market cap of $217.89 billion, a PE ratio of 26.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06. The business’s 50 day moving average is $155.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $149.29.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.02. PepsiCo had a net margin of 8.77% and a return on equity of 57.92%. The business had revenue of $29.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $28.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.96 earnings per share. PepsiCo’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 3rd that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.4225 per share. This represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is 94.83%.

PepsiCo Company Profile

PepsiCo, Inc (NASDAQ: PEP) is a multinational food and beverage company headquartered in Purchase, New York. The company develops, manufactures, markets and sells a broad portfolio of branded food and beverage products, including carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks, bottled water, sports drinks, juices, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, salty snacks, cereals, and other convenient foods. Its leading consumer brands include Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Tropicana, Quaker, Lay’s, Doritos and Cheetos, among others.

Formed through the 1965 merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay, PepsiCo has grown into a global business with integrated manufacturing, distribution and marketing operations.