Vontobel Holding Ltd. Acquires 1,157,835 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 62.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,014,101 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,157,835 shares during the period. PepsiCo makes up approximately 1.6% of Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $458,324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its stake in PepsiCo by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 293,824 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,016,000 after acquiring an additional 40,031 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 211.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,345,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $398,847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,592,343 shares during the last quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 3.8% during the third quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 89,044 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,142,000 after purchasing an additional 3,297 shares in the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its position in PepsiCo by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,162,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in PepsiCo by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 7,086 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,247,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on PEP shares. Barclays cut their target price on PepsiCo from $158.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on PepsiCo from $193.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $171.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.47.

PepsiCo Price Performance

PepsiCo stock opened at $144.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.70. PepsiCo, Inc. has a one year low of $141.51 and a one year high of $183.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $198.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.80, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.54. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $150.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $163.54.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted 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. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.87% and a net margin of 10.43%. The business had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.89 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.78 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.34 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is 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.