Albion Financial Group UT Grows Stock Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Albion Financial Group UT increased its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 38,869 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,295 shares during the quarter. Albion Financial Group UT’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $6,610,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PEP. Flossbach Von Storch AG grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 67.2% in the first quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 4,560,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $798,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,832,385 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 125.2% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,740,573 shares of the company’s stock valued at $452,003,000 after purchasing an additional 1,523,631 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 429.3% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,454,793 shares of the company’s stock valued at $254,603,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179,922 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in PepsiCo during the first quarter valued at $166,243,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 7.2% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 13,547,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,234,400,000 after buying an additional 905,468 shares during the period. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PEP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on PepsiCo from $185.00 to $183.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on PepsiCo from $180.00 to $179.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on PepsiCo from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $185.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on PepsiCo from $177.00 to $176.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $184.07.

PepsiCo Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ PEP opened at $172.99 on Friday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1-year low of $157.43 and a 1-year high of $183.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $173.62 and a 200-day moving average of $172.06. The firm has a market cap of $237.34 billion, a PE ratio of 25.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.53.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 8th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.01. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.32% and a net margin of 10.18%. The company had revenue of $23.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.25 EPS. PepsiCo’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a $1.355 dividend. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.94%.

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.