Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC Takes Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $405,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PEP. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in PepsiCo by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,747,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its position in PepsiCo by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 13,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,243,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Marion Wealth Management increased its position in PepsiCo by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. Marion Wealth Management now owns 7,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,340,000 after purchasing an additional 1,900 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 20.1% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 59,879 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,146,000 after acquiring an additional 10,005 shares during the period. Finally, Widmann Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Widmann Financial Services Inc. now owns 8,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,356,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on PEP shares. StockNews.com cut PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Citigroup upgraded PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $195.00 in a report on Monday, February 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on PepsiCo from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $185.00 to $176.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.77.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

NASDAQ PEP traded up $1.44 during trading hours 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. PepsiCo, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $155.83 and a fifty-two week high of $196.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $168.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $167.99. The firm has a market cap of $240.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.53.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $27.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.40 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.03% and a net margin of 9.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.67 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st will be issued a dividend of $1.265 per share. This represents a $5.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 29th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.02%.

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.