Montis Financial LLC Boosts Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Montis Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 10.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,607 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the period. Montis Financial LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $782,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. 9258 Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in PepsiCo by 56.0% in the fourth quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,407,000 after buying an additional 2,974 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 93.1% in the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 88,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,065,000 after purchasing an additional 42,758 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments increased its stake in PepsiCo by 2,088.1% in the fourth quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 98,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,753,000 after purchasing an additional 94,130 shares during the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $931,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westover Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 24.4% in the 4th quarter. Westover Capital Advisors LLC now owns 13,078 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,221,000 after buying an additional 2,567 shares in the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $178.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley raised PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, March 18th. Barclays raised their price target on PepsiCo from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. 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, PepsiCo currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $187.42.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PEP traded up $0.30 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $175.45. The stock had a trading volume of 3,964,396 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,767,934. The company has a market capitalization of $241.21 billion, a PE ratio of 26.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $169.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $168.21. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $155.83 and a 1 year high of $196.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $18.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a $1.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This is a boost from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.09%.

PepsiCo Company 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.