Unique Wealth Strategies LLC Purchases New Stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 1,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $318,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 80.5% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 157 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in shares of PepsiCo during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Naples Money Management LLC acquired a new stake in PepsiCo in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of PepsiCo in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Avion Wealth raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 61.7% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 241 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PEP has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $199.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.42.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PEP stock traded down $1.10 during trading on Friday, hitting $175.58. 4,472,102 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,365,961. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.68. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $155.83 and a 1 year high of $196.88. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $169.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $167.88. The company has a market cap of $241.39 billion, a PE ratio of 26.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53.

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

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a $1.265 dividend. This represents a $5.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. 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.