Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Grows Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC boosted its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP - Free Report) by 249.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,240 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,880 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC's holdings in PepsiCo were worth $1,258,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in PepsiCo by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,371,504 shares of the company's stock valued at $20,280,471,000 after acquiring an additional 1,376,133 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,268,030 shares of the company's stock worth $9,738,429,000 after purchasing an additional 2,775,679 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,497,268 shares of the company's stock worth $5,170,529,000 after buying an additional 543,558 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in PepsiCo by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,217,043 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,834,504,000 after buying an additional 3,856,193 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in PepsiCo by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,013,158 shares of the company's stock worth $2,130,841,000 after acquiring an additional 689,383 shares during the period. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Remove Ads

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PEP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on PepsiCo from $185.00 to $168.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on PepsiCo from $193.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. CICC Research reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of PepsiCo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $171.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PepsiCo has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $169.88.

PepsiCo Price Performance

PepsiCo stock traded down $0.40 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $149.27. 8,549,260 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,875,691. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $141.51 and a 12 month high of $183.41. The stock's fifty day moving average is $149.25 and its 200-day moving average is $158.03. The stock has a market cap of $204.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.48, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.52.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP - Get Free Report) 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. The firm had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.89 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. PepsiCo's revenue for the quarter was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.78 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.63%. PepsiCo's 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.