Altfest L J & Co. Inc. Sells 474 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Altfest L J & Co. Inc. lessened its position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 6.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,628 shares of the company’s stock after selling 474 shares during the period. Altfest L J & Co. Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $1,126,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in PepsiCo by 34.0% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,128,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,812,000 after acquiring an additional 286,169 shares during the period. AMI Investment Management Inc. increased its position in PepsiCo by 0.7% during the first quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,627 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,783,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. increased its position in PepsiCo by 29.3% during the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 5,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $931,000 after acquiring an additional 1,262 shares during the period. Wsfs Capital Management LLC increased its position in PepsiCo by 117.2% during the first quarter. Wsfs Capital Management LLC now owns 2,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $501,000 after acquiring an additional 1,616 shares during the period. Finally, Equitable Holdings Inc. increased its position in PepsiCo by 8.5% during the first quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. now owns 26,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,504,000 after acquiring an additional 2,116 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on PEP shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $179.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $185.00 to $176.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.77.

PepsiCo Trading Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ PEP traded up $1.63 during trading on Thursday, hitting $175.20. 2,413,324 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,886,762. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $167.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $167.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.68. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12-month low of $155.83 and a 12-month high of $196.88. The firm has a market cap of $240.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.68, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.53.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $27.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.40 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 9.92% and a return on equity of 58.03%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.67 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st will be paid a $1.265 dividend. This represents a $5.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 29th. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is currently 77.02%.

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.