Griffin Asset Management Inc. Increases Stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 3.3% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 19,670 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 630 shares during the quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $3,442,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PEP. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in PepsiCo by 0.9% during the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,470,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 9,227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,623,000 after buying an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp grew its stake in PepsiCo by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 56,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,968,000 after acquiring an additional 989 shares during the period. Weaver Consulting Group raised its position in PepsiCo by 5.0% during the first quarter. Weaver Consulting Group now owns 2,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $478,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Finally, Occidental Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in PepsiCo by 1,200.1% during the first quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 18,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,179,000 after purchasing an additional 16,766 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PepsiCo stock opened at $164.93 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $226.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $173.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $170.31. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1-year low of $155.83 and a 1-year high of $192.38.

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 company had revenue of $18.25 billion for 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 revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.50 earnings per share. 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $1.355 dividend. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. This is an increase from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is 81.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on PEP shares. Argus downgraded shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on PepsiCo from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays lowered their price target on PepsiCo from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded PepsiCo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $209.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $186.38.

Insider Transactions 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 53,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,603,634. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

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.