5,458 Shares in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) Purchased by River Global Investors LLP

River Global Investors LLP purchased a new position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 5,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $927,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 83.0% in the 4th quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,264,000 after purchasing an additional 8,717 shares during the last quarter. Avalon Trust Co raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Avalon Trust Co now owns 3,044 shares of the company’s stock valued at $517,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 32.9% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,960,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $338,982,000 after purchasing an additional 485,437 shares during the last quarter. Pointe Capital Management LLC raised its position in PepsiCo by 60.2% during the 4th quarter. Pointe Capital Management LLC now owns 4,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $722,000 after buying an additional 1,597 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TCG Advisory Services LLC raised its position in PepsiCo by 66.0% during the 4th quarter. TCG Advisory Services LLC now owns 17,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,057,000 after buying an additional 7,159 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $178.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.42.

PepsiCo Price Performance

PEP traded up $0.70 on Friday, hitting $176.15. 3,492,120 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,328,097. PepsiCo, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $155.83 and a fifty-two week 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. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $170.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $168.46. The stock has a market cap of $242.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.52.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $18.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.08 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.00% and a return on equity of 57.37%. The company’s 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. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of $1.355 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This is an increase from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio 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.