Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 13,043 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,761,461 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,043 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $267,848,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PEP. Cross Staff Investments Inc grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 7,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,204,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 2.1% in the third quarter. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $508,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. LCM Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 0.8% during the third quarter. LCM Capital Management Inc now owns 7,573 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,288,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 1.1% during the third quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 5,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $973,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 4,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $733,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on PEP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com downgraded PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on PepsiCo from $183.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on PepsiCo from $193.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $171.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PepsiCo currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.47.

PepsiCo Stock Down 0.8 %

PEP opened at $143.39 on Tuesday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $141.51 and a 12 month high of $183.41. The company has a market cap of $196.66 billion, a PE ratio of 20.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. The company has a 50 day moving average of $149.80 and a 200 day moving average of $163.06.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $27.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.89 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.87% and a net margin of 10.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.78 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.34 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.355 dividend. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.99%.

PepsiCo 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.