Massachusetts Wealth Management Reduces Stock Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Massachusetts Wealth Management lessened its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 2.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,306 shares of the company’s stock after selling 275 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $1,995,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ossiam boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 138.9% during the fourth quarter. Ossiam now owns 73,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,192,000 after buying an additional 42,793 shares during the period. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 124,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,977,000 after purchasing an additional 13,461 shares during the period. Hutner Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Hutner Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,783 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,178,000 after purchasing an additional 6,865 shares during the period. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of PepsiCo in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,899,000. Finally, Inspire Trust Co. N.A. boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 39.2% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 17,125 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,604,000 after purchasing an additional 4,825 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PEP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI set a $140.00 target price on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $171.00 to $170.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $160.69.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PEP opened at $130.85 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $134.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $145.08. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1-year low of $127.75 and a 1-year high of $180.91. 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 firm has a market cap of $179.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.01). PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. The firm had revenue of $17.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.61 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a $1.4225 dividend. This represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.35%. This is a positive change from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.68%.

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.