Gardner Russo & Quinn LLC Decreases Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Gardner Russo & Quinn LLC decreased its position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,528 shares of the company’s stock after selling 714 shares during the quarter. Gardner Russo & Quinn LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $1,753,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on PepsiCo from $183.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $193.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $195.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $185.00 to $168.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.88.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of PEP stock opened at $149.27 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $204.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.52. 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 50-day moving average of $149.25 and a 200-day moving average of $158.17. PepsiCo, Inc. has a one year low of $141.51 and a one year high of $183.41.

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

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

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

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.