Carson Advisory Inc. Decreases Stock Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Carson Advisory Inc. decreased its position in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 6,307 shares of the company’s stock after selling 217 shares during the quarter. Carson Advisory Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $959,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. SageView Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 16,255 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,472,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Keystone Financial Group grew its position in PepsiCo by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Keystone Financial Group now owns 17,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,661,000 after acquiring an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. increased its stake in PepsiCo by 91.5% in the fourth quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 6,205 shares of the company’s stock worth $944,000 after purchasing an additional 2,964 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 5,138,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $781,413,000 after purchasing an additional 67,176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bragg Financial Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Bragg Financial Advisors Inc now owns 61,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,396,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on PEP shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $185.00 to $168.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. HSBC lowered their price target on PepsiCo from $186.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on PepsiCo from $184.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup dropped their price target on PepsiCo from $195.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays downgraded PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $168.00 to $156.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.88.

PepsiCo Price Performance

NASDAQ PEP opened at $144.43 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $148.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $155.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $198.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12-month low of $138.33 and a 12-month high of $183.41.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $27.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $1.355 dividend. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.