PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) Shares Sold by Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC

Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,333 shares of the company’s stock after selling 936 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $1,723,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 104.2% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in PepsiCo by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 41,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,323,000 after acquiring an additional 4,712 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 19.3% in the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,493,000 after purchasing an additional 5,220 shares during the period. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 61,541 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $171.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $193.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on PepsiCo from $185.00 to $168.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $169.88.

PepsiCo Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of PEP stock opened at $145.45 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $199.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $149.04 and a 200-day moving average of $159.09. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 52-week low of $141.51 and a 52-week high of $183.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.82.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.02. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.87% and a net margin of 10.43%. The business had revenue of $27.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.89 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.78 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $1.355 per share. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.99%.

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.