Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC Acquires 754 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 18.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,853 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 754 shares during the quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $825,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 3,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $693,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC lifted its position in PepsiCo by 3,345.6% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 179,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,391,000 after buying an additional 174,171 shares during the period. M&G Plc boosted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. M&G Plc now owns 426,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,334,000 after buying an additional 14,724 shares in the last quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 32.7% in the 1st quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 23,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,079,000 after buying an additional 5,737 shares during the period. Finally, Koss Olinger Consulting LLC increased its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 1,320.5% in the 1st quarter. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC now owns 33,425 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,850,000 after acquiring an additional 31,072 shares in the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America cut their price target on PepsiCo from $190.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on PepsiCo from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. TD Cowen cut PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $190.00 to $183.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised PepsiCo to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $183.92.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PEP opened at $172.39 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $173.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $172.23. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 52-week low of $158.03 and a 52-week high of $183.41. The company has a market cap of $237.00 billion, a PE ratio of 24.99, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.53.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 8th. The company reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $23.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.86 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.18% and a return on equity of 57.32%. The firm’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.25 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current year.

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.