Sunbelt Securities Inc. Sells 3,131 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. lowered its position in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP - Free Report) by 15.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 17,060 shares of the company's stock after selling 3,131 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc.'s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $2,558,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of PEP. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 3.6% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 630,906 shares of the company's stock valued at $94,598,000 after acquiring an additional 21,859 shares in the last quarter. Ossiam boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 138.9% during the 4th quarter. Ossiam now owns 73,604 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,192,000 after purchasing an additional 42,793 shares in the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 124,797 shares of the company's stock valued at $18,977,000 after purchasing an additional 13,461 shares during the period. Hutner Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Hutner Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,783 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,178,000 after buying an additional 6,865 shares during the period. Finally, Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new position in PepsiCo during the fourth quarter valued at about $47,899,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PEP has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Dbs Bank downgraded shares of PepsiCo from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Evercore ISI set a $140.00 target price on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group dropped their price target on PepsiCo from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on PepsiCo from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. One 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $159.75.

PepsiCo Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of PEP traded up $3.22 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $135.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,820,815 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,432,045. The company has a 50 day moving average of $131.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $142.63. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1-year low of $127.60 and a 1-year high of $180.91. The firm has a market cap of $185.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.13.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.01). PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 58.28%. The business had revenue of $17.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.61 earnings per share. PepsiCo's revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th were issued a dividend of $1.4225 per share. This is an increase from PepsiCo's previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.21%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. PepsiCo's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.