Country Trust Bank Cuts Position in PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP

Country Trust Bank trimmed its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 7.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 184,137 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,211 shares during the period. Country Trust Bank’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $25,860,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PEP. Claris Advisors LLC MO boosted its position in PepsiCo by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter. Claris Advisors LLC MO now owns 2,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Foster Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 4.6% in the second quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 5,169 shares of the company’s stock worth $683,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 46.4% in the second quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 114,344 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,098,000 after purchasing an additional 36,239 shares during the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. grew its stake in PepsiCo by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 25,309 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,342,000 after purchasing an additional 620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clayton Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in PepsiCo during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $872,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their target price on PepsiCo from $152.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $165.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Friday, January 9th. DZ Bank raised shares of PepsiCo from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $167.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $151.00 to $164.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $158.58.

PepsiCo Price Performance

PEP opened at $146.57 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $145.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $144.51. PepsiCo, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $127.60 and a fifty-two week high of $160.15. The firm has a market cap of $200.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.78 and a beta of 0.42.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 6th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th were given a dividend of $1.4225 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is currently 108.17%.

PepsiCo Profile

PepsiCo, Inc (NASDAQ: PEP) is a multinational food and beverage company headquartered in Purchase, New York. The company develops, manufactures, markets and sells a broad portfolio of branded food and beverage products, including carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks, bottled water, sports drinks, juices, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, salty snacks, cereals, and other convenient foods. Its leading consumer brands include Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Tropicana, Quaker, Lay’s, Doritos and Cheetos, among others.

Formed through the 1965 merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay, PepsiCo has grown into a global business with integrated manufacturing, distribution and marketing operations.