American Century Companies Inc. Has $351.74 Million Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,313,136 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 40,920 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $351,735,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PEP. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in shares of PepsiCo during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC acquired a new stake in PepsiCo in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in PepsiCo in the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in PepsiCo in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Human Investing LLC acquired a new stake in PepsiCo in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on PEP. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $184.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. HSBC dropped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $186.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $171.00 to $170.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Barclays lowered shares of PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $168.00 to $156.00 in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $195.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.88.

PepsiCo Trading Down 1.2 %

PEP opened at $145.45 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $199.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.93, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.52. PepsiCo, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $141.51 and a fifty-two week high of $183.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $149.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $159.22.

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

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.73%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.99%.

About PepsiCo

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.