4,266 Shares in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) Purchased by Ameriflex Group Inc.

Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,266 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $643,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,729,565,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $589,307,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 3,856,193 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in PepsiCo by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,371,504 shares of the company's stock valued at $20,280,471,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376,133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in PepsiCo by 360.0% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,697,742 shares of the company's stock valued at $258,158,000 after purchasing an additional 1,328,672 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on PEP shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $163.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of PepsiCo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $171.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $143.00 to $135.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of PepsiCo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $160.69.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PEP traded up $2.03 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $131.37. The stock had a trading volume of 13,960,301 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,503,657. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $139.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $147.95. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12-month low of $127.75 and a 12-month high of $180.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. The stock has a market cap of $180.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.47.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.01). PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. The firm had revenue of $17.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.61 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $1.4225 per share. This is a positive change from PepsiCo's previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. PepsiCo's payout ratio is presently 83.68%.

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.