PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Morse Asset Management Inc

Morse Asset Management Inc cut its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 85.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 856 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,000 shares during the quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $130,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,371,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,280,471,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376,133 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,079,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,717,069,000 after purchasing an additional 582,254 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,217,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,834,504,000 after buying an additional 3,856,193 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of PepsiCo during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,729,565,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,403,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,494,300,000 after buying an additional 1,306,818 shares during the period. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PEP. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on PepsiCo from $170.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. HSBC reduced their price objective on PepsiCo from $186.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $171.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on PepsiCo from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $160.69.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PEP opened at $130.31 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $178.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.47. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1-year low of $129.75 and a 1-year high of $183.41. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $142.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $150.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $17.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.81 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. PepsiCo’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.61 EPS. Research analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $1.4225 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.37%. This is a boost from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 83.68%.

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.