Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Has $149.82 Million Stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 882,137 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 24,472 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC owned 0.06% of PepsiCo worth $149,822,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Mechanics Financial Corp increased its stake in PepsiCo by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp now owns 13,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,299,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. increased its stake in PepsiCo by 60.6% in the fourth quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. now owns 20,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,413,000 after purchasing an additional 7,600 shares in the last quarter. Rogco LP increased its stake in PepsiCo by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. Rogco LP now owns 11,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,037,000 after purchasing an additional 2,364 shares in the last quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,600,000 after buying an additional 569 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 41,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,126,000 after buying an additional 6,579 shares during the period. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PEP. StockNews.com cut shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Argus cut shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $195.00 in a report on Monday, February 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.42.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PEP stock traded up $0.68 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $175.83. The stock had a trading volume of 1,413,162 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,737,319. The stock has a market capitalization of $241.73 billion, a PE ratio of 26.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $169.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $168.21. PepsiCo, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $155.83 and a fifty-two week high of $196.88.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $18.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.08 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.00% and a return on equity of 57.37%. The company’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.50 earnings per share. Analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a $1.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This is a positive change from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.08%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.09%.

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.