Wambolt & Associates LLC Lowers Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Wambolt & Associates LLC lessened its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 23.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,471 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,155 shares during the period. Wambolt & Associates LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $2,505,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Tcfg Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Tcfg Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Lincoln Capital LLC increased its stake in PepsiCo by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Lincoln Capital LLC now owns 16,808 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,556,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 3,128 shares of the company’s stock valued at $476,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Osprey Private Wealth LLC increased its position in PepsiCo by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Osprey Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,290,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TAGStone Capital Inc. raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. TAGStone Capital Inc. now owns 2,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $388,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PEP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on PepsiCo from $195.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $171.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. BNP Paribas dropped their target price on PepsiCo from $162.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on PepsiCo from $180.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.88.

PepsiCo Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PEP opened at $146.45 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $149.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $158.73. PepsiCo, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $141.51 and a fifty-two week high of $183.41. The stock has a market cap of $200.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05.

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

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $1.355 per share. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.99%.

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.