Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Buys 206 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 4.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,503 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new stake in shares of PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth about $224,000. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 59,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,031,000 after purchasing an additional 6,574 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth about $9,268,000. Trilogy Capital Inc. grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 3,258 shares of the company’s stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Silver Oak Securities Incorporated lifted its holdings in PepsiCo by 28.5% in the fourth quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 3,160 shares of the company’s stock worth $479,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the period. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

PepsiCo Price Performance

Shares of PEP opened at $130.03 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $178.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $136.15 and a 200 day moving average of $146.25. PepsiCo, Inc. has a twelve month low of $127.75 and a twelve month high of $180.91.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $17.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.81 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. PepsiCo’s revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.61 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $1.4225 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.38%. This is an increase from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on PEP. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Evercore ISI set a $140.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $163.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, CICC Research restated a “market perform” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $160.69.

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.