Wealth Alliance Sells 4,245 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Wealth Alliance trimmed its position in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 19.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 17,205 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,245 shares during the quarter. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $2,616,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PEP. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 17,113.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,220,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $547,626,000 after acquiring an additional 3,201,676 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 5.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,268,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,738,429,000 after buying an additional 2,775,679 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 21.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,021,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,293,049,000 after buying an additional 2,264,445 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 211.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,345,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $398,847,000 after buying an additional 1,592,343 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 360.0% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,697,742 shares of the company’s stock valued at $258,158,000 after buying an additional 1,328,672 shares during the period. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PEP. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $184.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $158.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.47.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PEP opened at $145.81 on Thursday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $141.51 and a fifty-two week high of $183.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $199.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.98, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a fifty day moving average of $149.16 and a 200 day moving average of $162.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.82.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.02. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. The business had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.89 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.78 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. PepsiCo’s 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.