Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 236,181 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP

Key Points

• Clearbridge Investments cut its PepsiCo stake by 30% in the fourth quarter, selling 236,181 shares and leaving it with 551,984 shares worth about $79.2 million.
• PepsiCo’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS of $1.61 versus $1.55 expected and revenue of $19.44 billion, up 8.5% year over year. Analysts now expect the company to earn 8.63 EPS for the full fiscal year.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $1.48 per share from $1.42, translating to an annualized dividend of $5.92 and a yield of about 4.2%.

Clearbridge Investments LLC reduced its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP - Free Report) by 30.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 551,984 shares of the company's stock after selling 236,181 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC's holdings in PepsiCo were worth $79,221,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PEP. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 59,392 shares of the company's stock worth $9,031,000 after buying an additional 6,574 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in shares of PepsiCo during the first quarter valued at approximately $251,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 138.5% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,527 shares of the company's stock valued at $862,000 after purchasing an additional 3,790 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. boosted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 10.1% during the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 38,164 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,039,000 after purchasing an additional 3,502 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 45.5% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 536,133 shares of the company's stock valued at $70,789,000 after purchasing an additional 167,707 shares in the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PEP has been the topic of several research reports. HSBC lifted their price target on PepsiCo from $175.00 to $176.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on PepsiCo from $191.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price target on PepsiCo from $130.00 to $132.00 in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Argus upgraded PepsiCo to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on PepsiCo from $172.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $169.58.

PepsiCo Trading Down 0.9%

PepsiCo stock opened at $140.68 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $152.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $152.48. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $127.60 and a 12 month high of $171.48. The company has a market capitalization of $192.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.35.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.06. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 56.61% and a net margin of 9.15%.The business had revenue of $19.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.48 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. This is a positive change from PepsiCo's previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. PepsiCo's dividend payout ratio is presently 92.94%.

More PepsiCo News

Here are the key news stories impacting PepsiCo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PepsiCo and Gatik launched a broader autonomous trucking deployment in North America, with driverless trucks now delivering Doritos in multiple states. The move could improve logistics efficiency, lower delivery costs over time, and highlight PepsiCo’s willingness to adopt automation in its supply chain. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: PepsiCo’s push into India’s energy drink market with Adrenaline Rush expands its exposure to a fast-growing beverage category and adds another growth lever in an important emerging market. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage of competitor Coca-Cola’s pricing strategy and volume trends may reinforce the broader consumer staples backdrop, but it does not directly change PepsiCo’s fundamentals. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles discussed Celsius Holdings’ growth and its reliance on PepsiCo distribution, which indirectly highlights PepsiCo’s distribution strength, but the impact on PEP shares appears limited and indirect. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: A separate article on Campbell’s Soup was incorrectly tagged with PEP and is unrelated to PepsiCo, so it should not be viewed as a catalyst for the stock. Article Title

PepsiCo Company Profile

PepsiCo, Inc NASDAQ: PEP is a multinational food and beverage company headquartered in Purchase, New York. The company develops, manufactures, markets and sells a broad portfolio of branded food and beverage products, including carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks, bottled water, sports drinks, juices, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, salty snacks, cereals, and other convenient foods. Its leading consumer brands include Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Tropicana, Quaker, Lay's, Doritos and Cheetos, among others.

Formed through the 1965 merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay, PepsiCo has grown into a global business with integrated manufacturing, distribution and marketing operations.

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