Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Acquires 16,541 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP

Key Points

• Meiji Yasuda Asset Management boosted its PepsiCo stake by 14.9% in the fourth quarter, buying 16,541 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 127,341 shares worth about $18.3 million.
• Several other institutional investors also increased their PepsiCo positions, and institutions now own 73.07% of the company’s shares, underscoring continued interest from large investors.
• PepsiCo recently reported better-than-expected quarterly results, raised its dividend to $1.48 per share, and authorized a $10 billion share buyback, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus “Hold” with an average price target of $170.11.

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP - Free Report) by 14.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 127,341 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 16,541 shares during the period. PepsiCo comprises approximately 0.9% of Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.'s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $18,276,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 365.2% in the fourth quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 117,612 shares of the company's stock worth $16,880,000 after purchasing an additional 92,329 shares in the last quarter. Intellus Advisors LLC bought a new position in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth about $564,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. now owns 13,933 shares of the company's stock worth $2,019,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC now owns 128,868 shares of the company's stock worth $18,495,000 after purchasing an additional 4,092 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 48.9% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 29,451 shares of the company's stock worth $4,227,000 after purchasing an additional 9,671 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting PepsiCo

Here are the key news stories impacting PepsiCo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PepsiCo and Varun Beverages extended their exclusive bottling agreement in India through 2049, giving PepsiCo greater distribution stability and more flexibility to grow in a key international market.
• Positive Sentiment: PepsiCo announced new growth initiatives in Asia-Pacific and a regenerated agriculture partnership with LDC, both of which support the company’s sustainability efforts and supply-chain resilience.
• Positive Sentiment: PepsiCo continues to push product innovation, including a new functional ready-to-drink tea, which may help offset slowing demand in some core snack categories.
• Neutral Sentiment: PepsiCo India plans to invest about Rs 5,700 crore by 2030 to expand capacity, a sign of confidence in demand but also a longer-term capital commitment.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary and recent features suggest PepsiCo still has a credible growth story thanks to pricing power, distribution scale, and expansion into better-for-you products, but these articles do not point to a near-term earnings surprise.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that PepsiCo is raising prices on smaller chip bags highlight rising costs in the business and could increase consumer pushback, potentially pressuring volume growth.
• Negative Sentiment: Cost inflation remains a concern, and the need for selective price increases suggests PepsiCo is still facing margin pressure in its U.S. snack business.

PepsiCo Price Performance

NASDAQ PEP opened at $148.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $154.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $152.47. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $127.60 and a 1 year high of $171.48. The company has a market cap of $203.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.37, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.38.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $19.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.48 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.63 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, February 3rd that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This is a boost from PepsiCo's previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. PepsiCo's dividend payout ratio is currently 89.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on PEP shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on PepsiCo from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Evercore upped their price target on PepsiCo from $165.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Friday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $172.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $191.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $165.00 to $163.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $170.11.

PepsiCo 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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