Ethos Financial Group LLC Purchases 367 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Ethos Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 15.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,688 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 367 shares during the quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $460,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Selway Asset Management boosted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Selway Asset Management now owns 15,462 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,626,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. raised its stake in PepsiCo by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 5,352 shares of the company’s stock valued at $909,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Advantage Trust Co purchased a new position in PepsiCo during the fourth quarter valued at $459,000. Savoir Faire Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in PepsiCo by 48.1% during the fourth quarter. Savoir Faire Capital Management L.P. now owns 55,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,342,000 after buying an additional 17,872 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zevin Asset Management LLC raised its stake in PepsiCo by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Zevin Asset Management LLC now owns 3,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $535,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PepsiCo stock traded up $0.65 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $178.06. 2,419,686 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,631,914. The stock has a market capitalization of $244.79 billion, a PE ratio of 26.78, 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. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12-month low of $155.83 and a 12-month high of $196.88. The business’s 50-day moving average is $170.96 and its 200-day moving average is $168.82.

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

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.355 per share. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This is a positive change from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is currently 81.50%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PEP. Morgan Stanley upgraded PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on PepsiCo from $199.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. StockNews.com cut PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Citigroup upgraded PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.42.

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.