PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) Shares Sold by Verity Asset Management Inc.

Verity Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 48.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,670 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,446 shares during the quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $552,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PEP. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 99,785 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,968,000 after acquiring an additional 8,406 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 104.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,350,000 after purchasing an additional 870,451 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 11.0% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake 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 buying an additional 4,712 shares during the period. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in PepsiCo by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,493,000 after buying an additional 5,220 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PEP. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $172.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays reduced their price target on PepsiCo from $183.00 to $158.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of PepsiCo to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $170.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, PepsiCo has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $176.73.

PepsiCo Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PEP opened at $150.27 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.89. PepsiCo, Inc. has a one year low of $141.51 and a one year high of $183.41. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $153.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $164.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.16, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.54.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.01. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.32% and a net margin of 10.18%. On average, analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $1.355 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is currently 79.94%.

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.