First County Bank CT Lowers Stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

First County Bank CT lessened its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 7.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,813 shares of the company’s stock after selling 455 shares during the quarter. First County Bank CT’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $884,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PEP. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 17,113.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,220,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $547,626,000 after acquiring an additional 3,201,676 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,268,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,738,429,000 after purchasing an additional 2,775,679 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 21.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,021,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,293,049,000 after purchasing an additional 2,264,445 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in PepsiCo by 211.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,345,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $398,847,000 after buying an additional 1,592,343 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in PepsiCo by 5.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 21,360,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,632,413,000 after buying an additional 1,125,059 shares in the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PEP. Hsbc Global Res upgraded PepsiCo to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $185.00 to $183.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen cut shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $190.00 to $183.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $186.00 to $183.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $170.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $182.29.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PEP traded down $0.34 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $145.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,820,903 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,845,413. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.70. PepsiCo, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $145.77 and a fifty-two week high of $183.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $159.04 and its 200-day moving average is $167.12. The firm has a market cap of $200.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.54.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 8th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $23.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.86 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.18% and a return on equity of 57.32%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.25 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 6th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $1.355 per share. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.94%.

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.