WealthTrak Capital Management LLC Acquires Shares of 181 PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in PepsiCo by 104.2% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,350,000 after acquiring an additional 870,451 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in PepsiCo by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 41,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,323,000 after purchasing an additional 4,712 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in PepsiCo by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 350,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,549,000 after purchasing an additional 34,633 shares during the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in PepsiCo by 19.3% in the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,493,000 after buying an additional 5,220 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,236,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,031,000 after buying an additional 61,541 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

NASDAQ PEP opened at $149.27 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $149.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $158.17. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12-month low of $141.51 and a 12-month high of $183.41. The company has a market cap of $204.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.48, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.52.

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

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $1.355 dividend. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is currently 77.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on PEP. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on PepsiCo from $185.00 to $168.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays cut PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $168.00 to $156.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $193.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $171.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, CICC Research reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.88.

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.