Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 0.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,113 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 128 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $2,470,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of PepsiCo during the 3rd quarter valued at $656,000. Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 85.0% during the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 32,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,588,000 after buying an additional 15,156 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 22.7% during the 3rd quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,044 shares of the company’s stock valued at $685,000 after buying an additional 748 shares in the last quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,197 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,728,000 after buying an additional 367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,656,000 after buying an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

PepsiCo Price Performance

PEP stock traded down $1.33 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $164.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,756,033 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,392,291. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 12 month low of $155.83 and a 12 month high of $192.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a 50 day moving average of $173.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $170.30.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $18.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.08 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.37% and a net margin of 10.00%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.50 EPS. On average, analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a dividend of $1.355 per share. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This is a positive change from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.50%.

Insider Activity at PepsiCo

In related news, CEO Ramkumar Krishnan sold 5,620 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,360.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 53,953 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,603,634. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PEP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 target price on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on PepsiCo from $209.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Barclays decreased their target price on PepsiCo from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PepsiCo has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $186.38.

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.