Fiera Capital Corp Sells 84,750 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Fiera Capital Corp reduced its position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP - Free Report) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,804,057 shares of the company's stock after selling 84,750 shares during the quarter. PepsiCo makes up 2.0% of Fiera Capital Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Fiera Capital Corp owned approximately 0.28% of PepsiCo worth $646,081,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,001,928 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,227,287,000 after purchasing an additional 578,083 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in PepsiCo by 3.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,878,022 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,859,812,000 after acquiring an additional 595,357 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in PepsiCo by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 9,664,323 shares of the company's stock worth $1,641,389,000 after acquiring an additional 1,470,064 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,421,163 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,430,250,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105,127 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 6,774,800 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,147,922,000 after purchasing an additional 142,243 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on PEP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $178.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com lowered PepsiCo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $209.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Argus lowered shares of PepsiCo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $187.58.

PepsiCo Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of PepsiCo stock traded down $0.92 on Friday, hitting $182.19. 4,443,466 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,564,634. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $173.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $169.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $250.47 billion, a PE ratio of 27.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.52. PepsiCo, Inc. has a one year low of $155.83 and a one year high of $192.86.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.09. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.37% and a net margin of 10.00%. The business had revenue of $18.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.50 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.355 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.97%. This is a boost from PepsiCo's previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. PepsiCo's payout ratio is currently 76.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at PepsiCo

In other news, CEO Ramkumar Krishnan sold 5,620 shares of PepsiCo stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,953 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,603,634. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.15% of the company's stock.

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.

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