Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Increases Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP - Free Report) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 109,915 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 4,428 shares during the quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.'s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $16,714,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX purchased a new stake in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth $8,609,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth $643,000. United Advisor Group LLC increased its position in PepsiCo by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. United Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,134 shares of the company's stock worth $477,000 after buying an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth $242,000. Finally, Challenger Wealth Management purchased a new stake in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth $500,000. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. CICC Research reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Friday, February 7th. BNP Paribas reduced their target price on PepsiCo from $162.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Dbs Bank cut PepsiCo from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Citigroup reduced their target price on PepsiCo from $170.00 to $160.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $160.69.

PepsiCo Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ PEP traded down $0.70 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $130.67. The company had a trading volume of 8,064,085 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,509,879. PepsiCo, Inc. has a one year low of $127.75 and a one year 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 firm's fifty day moving average price is $138.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $147.83. The stock has a market cap of $179.16 billion, a PE ratio of 18.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.47.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $17.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.81 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.61 EPS. The company's revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.4225 per share. This represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This is an increase from PepsiCo's previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. PepsiCo's payout ratio is currently 83.68%.

About PepsiCo

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.