Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Sells 6,254 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. reduced its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 77,450 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,254 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $11,777,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 9.2% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 99,785 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,968,000 after purchasing an additional 8,406 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 104.2% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,350,000 after purchasing an additional 870,451 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 11.0% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 350,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,549,000 after buying an additional 34,633 shares during the period. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in PepsiCo by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 41,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,323,000 after buying an additional 4,712 shares during the period. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in PepsiCo by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,493,000 after acquiring an additional 5,220 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen dropped their price target on PepsiCo from $183.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of PepsiCo from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of PepsiCo to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. BNP Paribas cut their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $162.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $171.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $174.53.

PepsiCo Price Performance

NASDAQ PEP opened at $143.49 on Wednesday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a one year low of $141.51 and a one year high of $183.41. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $152.86 and a 200 day moving average of $164.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company has a market capitalization of $196.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.16, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.54.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.02. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.18% and a return on equity of 57.32%. The firm had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.78 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 6th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $1.355 dividend. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is currently 79.94%.

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.