U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP - Free Report) by 26.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,895 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,907 shares during the quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in PepsiCo were worth $2,083,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in PepsiCo by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,371,504 shares of the company's stock worth $20,280,471,000 after buying an additional 1,376,133 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in PepsiCo by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,079,522 shares of the company's stock worth $4,717,069,000 after buying an additional 582,254 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth $2,729,565,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in PepsiCo by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,403,395 shares of the company's stock worth $2,494,300,000 after buying an additional 1,306,818 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 0.4% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,062,857 shares of the company's stock worth $2,108,585,000 after acquiring an additional 49,699 shares during the period. 73.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PEP has been the subject of several recent 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. UBS Group reduced their price target on PepsiCo from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Dbs Bank cut PepsiCo from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Citigroup reduced their price target 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, Barclays reduced their price target on PepsiCo from $143.00 to $135.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $158.50.

PepsiCo Price Performance

PEP stock traded up $1.60 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $136.08. 8,864,567 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,086,428. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.13, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $131.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $141.88. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $127.60 and a 12 month high of $180.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $186.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.01, a PEG ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.45.

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

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th were issued a $1.4225 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.18%. This is an increase from PepsiCo's previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. PepsiCo's payout ratio is currently 83.68%.

PepsiCo 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.