Raymond James & Associates Increases Stock Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 2.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,225,764 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 55,004 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned approximately 0.16% of PepsiCo worth $389,531,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Accordant Advisory Group Inc purchased a new position in shares of PepsiCo during the first quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Professional Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 5.8% in the first quarter. Professional Advisory Services Inc. now owns 150,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,372,000 after purchasing an additional 8,277 shares in the last quarter. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC now owns 4,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $861,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Cassia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in PepsiCo by 23.8% in the 1st quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $906,000 after acquiring an additional 994 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hendershot Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Hendershot Investments Inc. now owns 103,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,184,000 after purchasing an additional 2,771 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on PEP. Morgan Stanley raised shares of PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Citigroup raised 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 report on Monday, February 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $199.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.42.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PEP traded down $1.10 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $175.58. 4,472,102 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,365,961. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $241.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.53. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $155.83 and a 12 month high of $196.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $169.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $167.86.

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

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $1.265 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $5.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.09%.

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.