Westend Capital Management LLC Purchases New Shares in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Westend Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in PepsiCo by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $381,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC grew its position in PepsiCo by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,420 shares of the company’s stock valued at $411,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp grew its position in PepsiCo by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 2,290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $389,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Clearwater Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in PepsiCo by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Clearwater Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $468,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Security Financial Services INC. grew its position in PepsiCo by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Security Financial Services INC. now owns 3,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $690,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at PepsiCo

In other PepsiCo news, CEO Ramkumar Krishnan sold 5,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.00, for a total value of $1,000,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 53,953 shares in the company, valued at $9,603,634. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

PepsiCo Stock Up 1.1 %

PEP stock traded up $1.80 during trading on Monday, hitting $169.08. 812,722 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,487,601. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $173.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $170.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $232.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.15, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.52. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 52-week low of $155.83 and a 52-week high of $192.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96.

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

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $1.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. This is a boost from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is currently 81.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on PEP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on PepsiCo from $178.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Argus downgraded PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Barclays lowered their price objective 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 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $186.15.

PepsiCo 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.