Avantax Planning Partners Inc. Sells 16,521 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP

Avantax Planning Partners Inc. lowered its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 26.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 46,062 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,521 shares during the quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $7,153,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its holdings in PepsiCo by 14,857.8% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 49,252,907 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,068,777,000 after buying an additional 48,923,629 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of PepsiCo during the 4th quarter valued at $3,018,813,000. Diamant Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 16,146.5% in the first quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,586,423 shares of the company’s stock worth $556,936,000 after purchasing an additional 3,564,348 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 120.7% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,916,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $830,902,000 after buying an additional 3,235,726 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 30.0% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 8,641,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,207,230,000 after acquiring an additional 1,995,362 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on PEP shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $162.00 to $152.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Wall Street Zen downgraded PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on PepsiCo from $178.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $163.00 to $161.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane lowered their price objective on PepsiCo from $195.00 to $183.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.70.

PepsiCo Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of PEP opened at $138.49 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. The company has a market cap of $189.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.36. PepsiCo, Inc. has a twelve month low of $133.75 and a twelve month high of $171.48. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $145.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $151.45.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 9th. The company reported $2.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.01. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 54.63% and a net margin of 10.78%.The firm had revenue of $24.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.92 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. PepsiCo has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.550-8.710 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.59 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a $1.48 dividend. This is a positive change from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.59%.

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.