Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Decreases Stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC reduced its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 113,945 shares of the company’s stock after selling 707 shares during the quarter. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $19,352,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bangor Savings Bank lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 22,493 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,811,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 670,069 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,536,000 after purchasing an additional 12,000 shares during the period. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 1.0% in the third quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 253,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,475 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 3.2% during the third quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC now owns 28,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,777,000 after purchasing an additional 871 shares during the period. Finally, Segment Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,112,000 after purchasing an additional 791 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PEP. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Argus downgraded PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on PepsiCo from $178.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com lowered PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.42.

PepsiCo Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:PEP traded up $0.70 on Friday, reaching $176.15. 3,492,120 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,328,097. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $155.83 and a 12 month high of $196.88. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $170.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $168.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. The company has a market capitalization of $242.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.49, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.52.

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

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

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

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.