Handelsbanken Fonder AB Has $86.93 Million Stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 9.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 571,653 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 47,853 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $86,926,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 182,145 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,697,000 after acquiring an additional 8,452 shares during the period. Sunpointe LLC grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 32.0% during the fourth quarter. Sunpointe LLC now owns 2,272 shares of the company’s stock worth $349,000 after buying an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. LMG Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. LMG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 47,164 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,172,000 after buying an additional 1,511 shares during the last quarter. Corps Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in PepsiCo during the fourth quarter worth about $1,390,000. Finally, Emerald Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 6,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,036,000 after buying an additional 326 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on PEP shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $184.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. CICC Research reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $193.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $180.00 to $160.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.47.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PEP opened at $145.81 on Thursday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a one year low of $141.51 and a one year high of $183.41. The firm has a market cap of $199.98 billion, a PE ratio of 20.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.54. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $149.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $162.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.82.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.89 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.87% and a net margin of 10.43%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.78 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.34 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $1.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.72%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is presently 77.99%.

About PepsiCo

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.