Sandy Spring Bank Sells 2,213 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Sandy Spring Bank cut its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 62,601 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,213 shares during the quarter. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $9,519,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PEP. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 211.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,345,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $398,847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,592,343 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 2.0% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 4,568 shares of the company’s stock worth $777,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. BIP Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 1.9% during the third quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 3,601 shares of the company’s stock worth $612,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 4.0% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,114,000 after purchasing an additional 703 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in PepsiCo in the third quarter valued at about $4,838,000. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PEP has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com cut PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on PepsiCo from $183.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on PepsiCo from $185.00 to $168.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. They issued a $172.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BNP Paribas dropped their target price on PepsiCo from $162.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.88.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PEP opened at $148.11 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $141.51 and a 12 month high of $183.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $148.97 and a 200-day moving average of $159.50. The company has a market capitalization of $203.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.52.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.02. The business 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.78 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.66%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.