Wick Capital Partners LLC Invests $1.45 Million in PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP

Wick Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 10,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,454,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in PepsiCo by 3.6% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 554,798 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,916,000 after purchasing an additional 19,218 shares during the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 415,271 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,600,000 after buying an additional 42,335 shares during the last quarter. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. increased its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 622.3% in the 4th quarter. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. now owns 35,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,110,000 after buying an additional 30,674 shares during the last quarter. Allstate Corp raised its position in PepsiCo by 108.1% during the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 104,723 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,030,000 after purchasing an additional 54,405 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its stake in PepsiCo by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 3,143,939 shares of the company’s stock worth $451,218,000 after purchasing an additional 77,051 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on PEP. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on PepsiCo from $165.00 to $163.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. HSBC upped their target price on PepsiCo from $175.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $190.00 to $186.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $191.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $167.10.

PepsiCo Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ PEP opened at $142.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $194.11 billion, a PE ratio of 22.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.35. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1-year low of $127.60 and a 1-year high of $171.48. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $150.15 and a 200-day moving average of $152.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $19.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.89 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 56.61% and a net margin of 9.15%.PepsiCo’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.48 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.63 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This is a positive change from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 92.94%.

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.