Millstone Evans Group LLC Buys New Shares in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $819,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in PepsiCo by 104.2% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,350,000 after purchasing an additional 870,451 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 41,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,323,000 after buying an additional 4,712 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 350,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,549,000 after buying an additional 34,633 shares during the period. IHT Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 19.3% in the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,493,000 after acquiring an additional 5,220 shares during the period. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its position in PepsiCo by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,236,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,031,000 after acquiring an additional 61,541 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on PEP shares. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on PepsiCo from $180.00 to $160.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $185.00 to $168.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays lowered shares of PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $168.00 to $156.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $195.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $171.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.88.

PepsiCo Stock Down 1.2 %

PEP stock opened at $145.45 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $149.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $159.22. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $141.51 and a 12 month high of $183.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $199.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.52.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $27.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.89 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.78 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $1.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is presently 77.99%.

PepsiCo Company 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.