Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 12.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 68,364 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,496 shares during the quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $10,250,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. TAGStone Capital Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. TAGStone Capital Inc. now owns 2,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $388,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Lokken Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Lokken Investment Group LLC now owns 7,699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,171,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Legacy Financial Group LLC now owns 1,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC now owns 275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pflug Koory LLC boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 7,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,162,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PEP. Dbs Bank lowered shares of PepsiCo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $168.00 to $153.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, 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 research note on Friday, April 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $160.69.

PepsiCo Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of NASDAQ PEP opened at $129.29 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $134.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $144.63. The company has a market cap of $177.27 billion, a PE ratio of 19.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.45. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 52-week low of $127.75 and a 52-week high of $180.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.83.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $17.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.81 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.28% and a net margin of 10.24%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.61 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a $1.4225 dividend. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This is an increase 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.