Kovack Advisors Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 8.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,743 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,015 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $2,090,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in PepsiCo by 9.2% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in PepsiCo by 104.2% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,350,000 after purchasing an additional 870,451 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 34,633 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 41,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,323,000 after buying an additional 4,712 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 19.3% in the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,493,000 after buying an additional 5,220 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

PepsiCo Trading Down 3.1 %

NASDAQ:PEP opened at $151.51 on Thursday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12-month low of $141.51 and a 12-month high of $183.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $207.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $148.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $161.80.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.02. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.87% and a net margin of 10.43%. The company had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.89 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.78 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.58%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PEP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on PepsiCo from $180.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group decreased their price target on PepsiCo from $193.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com lowered PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on PepsiCo from $183.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.47.

PepsiCo 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.