Leavell Investment Management Inc. Purchases 71 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Leavell Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 27,844 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $4,271,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PEP. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its position in PepsiCo by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 293,824 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,016,000 after purchasing an additional 40,031 shares during the period. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 49.7% in the third quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 1,976 shares of the company’s stock worth $336,000 after acquiring an additional 656 shares during the period. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in PepsiCo during the third quarter valued at $44,000. CX Institutional lifted its holdings in PepsiCo by 204.1% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 41,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,003,000 after acquiring an additional 27,643 shares during the period. Finally, Wesbanco Bank Inc. boosted its position in PepsiCo by 1.2% in the third quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 152,685 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,964,000 after purchasing an additional 1,877 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. BNP Paribas cut their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $162.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup lowered their target price on PepsiCo from $195.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on PepsiCo from $158.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.47.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PEP opened at $145.64 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $199.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.96, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.54. PepsiCo, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $141.51 and a fifty-two week high of $183.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a fifty day moving average of $151.05 and a 200 day moving average of $163.87.

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

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors 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 yield of 3.72%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.99%.

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.