Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Sells 5,125 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lessened its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 1.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 349,353 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,125 shares during the quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $61,140,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in PepsiCo by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,420 shares of the company’s stock valued at $411,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 2,290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $389,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Clearwater Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Clearwater Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $468,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Security Financial Services INC. grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Security Financial Services INC. now owns 3,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $690,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PEP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on PepsiCo from $178.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Barclays cut their target price on PepsiCo from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Argus lowered PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, PepsiCo presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $186.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PepsiCo news, CEO Ramkumar Krishnan sold 5,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,360.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,603,634. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

PepsiCo Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PEP traded down $0.47 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $167.61. 914,934 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,480,093. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $173.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $170.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1-year low of $155.83 and a 1-year high of $192.38. The firm has a market cap of $230.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.52.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $18.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.08 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.00% and a return on equity of 57.37%. PepsiCo’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.50 EPS. Analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $1.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. This is a boost from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is presently 81.50%.

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.