OLD Second National Bank of Aurora Trims Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

OLD Second National Bank of Aurora cut its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,571 shares of the company’s stock after selling 83 shares during the quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $2,984,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 80.5% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 157 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in shares of PepsiCo during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Avion Wealth grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 61.7% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 241 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of PepsiCo during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Pacific Center for Financial Services acquired a new stake in PepsiCo in the 1st quarter valued at $47,000. 73.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PEP. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $199.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley upgraded PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, March 18th. Argus lowered PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Monday, February 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, PepsiCo has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $186.92.

PepsiCo Trading Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ PEP traded up $1.48 during trading on Thursday, hitting $170.96. The stock had a trading volume of 1,321,141 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,665,470. The company has a market capitalization of $234.99 billion, a PE ratio of 25.80, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $168.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.38. PepsiCo, Inc. has a twelve month low of $155.83 and a twelve month high of $196.88.

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

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a dividend of $1.265 per share. This represents a $5.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.