Federated Hermes Inc. Acquires 282,071 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 19.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,752,560 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 282,071 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $266,494,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,371,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,280,471,000 after acquiring an additional 1,376,133 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in PepsiCo by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,079,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,717,069,000 after purchasing an additional 582,254 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in PepsiCo by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,217,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,834,504,000 after buying an additional 3,856,193 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of PepsiCo during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,729,565,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,013,158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,130,841,000 after acquiring an additional 689,383 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PEP opened at $146.61 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $149.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $157.07. PepsiCo, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $141.51 and a fifty-two week high of $183.41. The company has a market capitalization of $201.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its earnings results 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. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. The company had revenue of $27.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.89 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.78 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $1.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.70%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on PEP shares. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on PepsiCo from $180.00 to $160.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. HSBC cut their price target on PepsiCo from $186.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $171.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $184.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.88.

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.