KRS Capital Management LLC Reduces Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

KRS Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 30.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,676 shares of the company’s stock after selling 733 shares during the quarter. KRS Capital Management LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $293,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PEP. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in PepsiCo by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,001,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,227,287,000 after acquiring an additional 578,083 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth $2,686,139,000. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in PepsiCo by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 9,664,323 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,641,389,000 after buying an additional 1,470,064 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in PepsiCo by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,954,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,520,909,000 after buying an additional 1,345,065 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in PepsiCo by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,421,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,430,250,000 after buying an additional 1,105,127 shares during the period. 73.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at PepsiCo

In other PepsiCo news, CEO Ramkumar Krishnan sold 5,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 53,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,603,634. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on PEP shares. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on PepsiCo from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Barclays reduced their price objective on PepsiCo from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, BNP Paribas initiated coverage on PepsiCo in a report on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $174.00 price objective for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $186.38.

PepsiCo Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of PepsiCo stock traded down $1.33 during trading on Friday, hitting $164.93. 8,756,033 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,392,291. The firm has a market cap of $226.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 52-week low of $155.83 and a 52-week high of $192.38. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $173.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.30.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.09. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.37% and a net margin of 10.00%. The firm had revenue of $18.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.50 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $1.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. This is a positive change from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is currently 81.50%.

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.