First Merchants Corp Sells 19,827 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

First Merchants Corp cut its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP - Free Report) by 23.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 65,393 shares of the company's stock after selling 19,827 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp's holdings in PepsiCo were worth $9,944,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 9.2% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 99,785 shares of the company's stock worth $16,968,000 after purchasing an additional 8,406 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 104.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,574 shares of the company's stock valued at $259,350,000 after buying an additional 870,451 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 350,225 shares of the company's stock worth $59,549,000 after buying an additional 34,633 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 41,580 shares of the company's stock worth $6,323,000 after purchasing an additional 4,712 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,267 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,493,000 after buying an additional 5,220 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PEP. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $184.00 to $178.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. TD Cowen lowered their target price on PepsiCo from $183.00 to $160.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of PepsiCo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. They set a $172.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $171.47.

PepsiCo Price Performance

NASDAQ PEP traded down $1.19 on Monday, reaching $143.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,999,823 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,619,325. PepsiCo, Inc. has a twelve month low of $141.51 and a twelve month high of $183.41. The stock has a market cap of $196.66 billion, a PE ratio of 20.63, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.54. The firm's 50 day moving average is $149.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $163.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.82.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. The company's revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.34 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.78%. PepsiCo's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.