LGT Capital Partners LTD. Has $49.90 Million Stock Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

LGT Capital Partners LTD. raised its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 15.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 293,820 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 40,415 shares during the period. PepsiCo makes up about 1.5% of LGT Capital Partners LTD.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. LGT Capital Partners LTD.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $49,902,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Austin Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,459 shares of the company’s stock worth $588,000 after buying an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Values Added Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 40.8% during the 4th quarter. Values Added Financial LLC now owns 2,182 shares of the company’s stock worth $371,000 after buying an additional 632 shares in the last quarter. Ballast Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 108.9% during the 4th quarter. Ballast Inc. now owns 8,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,400,000 after buying an additional 4,297 shares in the last quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC now owns 2,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Everett Harris & Co. CA grew its position in PepsiCo by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA now owns 416,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,686,000 after acquiring an additional 10,795 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Friday, February 9th. StockNews.com lowered PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Barclays upped their price target on PepsiCo from $179.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.77.

PepsiCo Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of PepsiCo stock traded up $1.44 on Thursday, hitting $175.01. The company had a trading volume of 5,710,410 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,942,093. The stock has a market capitalization of $240.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.53. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $155.83 and a 1 year high of $196.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $168.10 and a 200-day moving average of $167.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.85.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $27.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.40 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.03% and a net margin of 9.92%. PepsiCo’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.67 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st will be issued a dividend of $1.265 per share. This represents a $5.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 29th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.