Legal & General Group Plc Lowers Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 23.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,784,108 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,036,509 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $1,487,771,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in PepsiCo by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,836,264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,647,762,000 after acquiring an additional 130,913 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,658,983 shares of the company’s stock valued at $556,385,000 after acquiring an additional 102,853 shares during the period. Bell Asset Management Ltd lifted its position in PepsiCo by 33.8% during the fourth quarter. Bell Asset Management Ltd now owns 85,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,958,000 after purchasing an additional 21,544 shares in the last quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 18.2% during the 4th quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC now owns 2,718 shares of the company’s stock valued at $413,000 after buying an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in PepsiCo by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,752,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $266,494,000 after acquiring an additional 282,071 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PEP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. BNP Paribas cut their price target on PepsiCo from $162.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. CICC Research reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $195.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.88.

PepsiCo Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PEP opened at $146.61 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $149.33 and its 200 day moving average is $156.94. The company has a market cap of $201.05 billion, a PE ratio of 21.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. PepsiCo, Inc. has a twelve month low of $141.51 and a twelve month high of $183.41.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.02. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.87% and a net margin of 10.43%. The business had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $1.355 dividend. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.99%.

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.