New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $350.95 Million Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,066,346 shares of the company’s stock after selling 161,199 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $350,948,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PEP. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA lifted its stake in PepsiCo by 80.5% during the fourth 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 shares of PepsiCo in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Naples Money Management LLC bought a new position in shares of PepsiCo in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of PepsiCo in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Avion Wealth raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 61.7% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 target price on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Monday, February 12th. Citigroup raised shares of PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $180.00 to $195.00 in a report on Monday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $199.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $186.92.

PepsiCo Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ PEP traded up $2.33 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $176.46. 7,287,246 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,755,849. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $168.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.44. The company has a market capitalization of $242.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.53. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $155.83 and a 12 month high of $196.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $27.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $28.40 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 9.92% and a return on equity of 58.03%. The firm’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.67 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were given a $1.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $5.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.02%.

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.