Opus Capital Group LLC Trims Stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Opus Capital Group LLC reduced its position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 15.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,840 shares of the company’s stock after selling 682 shares during the period. Opus Capital Group LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $584,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PEP. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its stake in PepsiCo by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 293,824 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,016,000 after acquiring an additional 40,031 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its stake in PepsiCo by 211.4% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,345,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $398,847,000 after acquiring an additional 1,592,343 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its stake in PepsiCo by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 4,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $777,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in PepsiCo during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Finally, Chicago Capital LLC raised its stake in PepsiCo by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 48,622 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,268,000 after acquiring an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on PEP. Barclays reduced their price target on PepsiCo from $158.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on PepsiCo from $183.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group reduced their price target on PepsiCo from $193.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup reduced their price target on PepsiCo from $195.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com cut PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.47.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PepsiCo stock opened at $143.39 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $149.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $163.13. The company has a market capitalization of $196.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.63, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.54. PepsiCo, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $141.51 and a fifty-two week high of $183.41.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.89 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.87% and a net margin of 10.43%. PepsiCo’s revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.78 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $1.355 dividend. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.99%.

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.