Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. Cuts Stock Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. lowered its position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 6.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,818 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,709 shares during the period. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $3,571,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in PepsiCo by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,371,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,280,471,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376,133 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in PepsiCo by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,079,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,717,069,000 after purchasing an additional 582,254 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in PepsiCo by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,217,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,834,504,000 after purchasing an additional 3,856,193 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in PepsiCo during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,729,565,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in PepsiCo by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,403,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,494,300,000 after purchasing an additional 1,306,818 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PEP opened at $130.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $134.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $145.20. The stock has a market cap of $179.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $127.75 and a 1 year high of $180.91.

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

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $1.4225 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This is a boost from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. This represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.35%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 83.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on PEP. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $163.00 target price on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $170.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $143.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, PepsiCo has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $160.69.

PepsiCo 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.