Evanson Asset Management LLC Acquires 151 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Evanson Asset Management LLC raised its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 7.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,098 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $356,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 34.0% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,128,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,812,000 after acquiring an additional 286,169 shares during the last quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. raised its position in PepsiCo by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,627 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,783,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in PepsiCo by 29.3% during the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 5,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $931,000 after buying an additional 1,262 shares during the period. Wsfs Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 117.2% in the 1st quarter. Wsfs Capital Management LLC now owns 2,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $501,000 after buying an additional 1,616 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Equitable Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 8.5% in the first quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. now owns 26,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,504,000 after acquiring an additional 2,116 shares during the period. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PEP has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $185.00 to $176.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 18th. StockNews.com lowered PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $187.77.

PepsiCo Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of PepsiCo stock traded up $1.44 on Thursday, hitting $175.01. The company had a trading volume of 5,710,410 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,942,093. The stock has a market capitalization of $240.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.85. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $155.83 and a 1 year high of $196.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $168.10 and a 200-day moving average of $167.99.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $27.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.40 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 9.92% and a return on equity of 58.03%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.67 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st will be given a dividend of $1.265 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $5.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.02%.

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.