Black Diamond Financial LLC Increases Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Black Diamond Financial LLC increased its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,670 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the quarter. Black Diamond Financial LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $710,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in PEP. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its stake in PepsiCo by 15.8% in 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 during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its stake in PepsiCo by 211.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,345,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $398,847,000 after acquiring an additional 1,592,343 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its stake in PepsiCo by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 4,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $777,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. acquired a new stake in PepsiCo in the 3rd quarter valued at about $215,000. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its stake in PepsiCo by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 15,365 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,133 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PEP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $158.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. CICC Research reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $195.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.47.

PepsiCo Trading Up 3.0 %

NASDAQ PEP opened at $153.50 on Monday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a one year low of $141.51 and a one year high of $183.41. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $148.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $162.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $210.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.09, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.54.

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

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.355 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.