PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) Position Lessened by Greenleaf Trust

Greenleaf Trust trimmed its position in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP - Free Report) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 95,166 shares of the company's stock after selling 7,426 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust's holdings in PepsiCo were worth $16,163,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PepsiCo during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Zhang Financial LLC raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 18,804 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,194,000 after buying an additional 1,211 shares in the last quarter. HTLF Bank bought a new position in PepsiCo during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,372,000. Lafayette Investments Inc. raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. now owns 39,264 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,669,000 after buying an additional 3,553 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 35.3% during the fourth quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,817 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,158,000 after buying an additional 1,780 shares in the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays raised their target price on PepsiCo from $183.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Argus lowered PepsiCo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $195.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on PepsiCo from $199.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded PepsiCo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $186.92.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PEP stock traded up $1.86 during trading on Friday, reaching $174.13. 6,636,400 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,735,731. PepsiCo, Inc. has a twelve month low of $155.83 and a twelve month high of $196.88. The company has a market capitalization of $239.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $168.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $167.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.03% and a net margin of 9.92%. The business had revenue of $27.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.40 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.67 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $1.265 per share. This represents a $5.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. PepsiCo's dividend payout ratio is 77.02%.

PepsiCo Company 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.

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