West Tower Group LLC Raises Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

West Tower Group LLC lifted its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 50.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,400 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 800 shares during the quarter. West Tower Group LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $365,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PEP. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 211.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,345,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,847,000 after buying an additional 1,592,343 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 4,568 shares of the company’s stock worth $777,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. New England Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. New England Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,387 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,936,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the period. Windle Wealth LLC raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Windle Wealth LLC now owns 38,458 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,639 shares during the period. Finally, Aviance Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,813,000 after purchasing an additional 876 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PEP. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on PepsiCo from $185.00 to $168.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays cut PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $168.00 to $156.00 in a report on Tuesday. HSBC reduced their target price on PepsiCo from $186.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on PepsiCo in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $171.00 target price for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on PepsiCo from $184.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PepsiCo has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $169.88.

PepsiCo Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of PepsiCo stock opened at $148.99 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $204.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.44, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.52. PepsiCo, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $141.51 and a fifty-two week high of $183.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $148.94 and a 200 day moving average of $159.58.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.89 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.87% and a net margin of 10.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.78 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $1.355 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.64%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.99%.

PepsiCo 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.