Grimes & Company Inc. Sells 3,414 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Grimes & Company Inc. trimmed its position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 10.4% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 29,286 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,414 shares during the quarter. Grimes & Company Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $5,125,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 80.5% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC now owns 194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new position in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Transactions at PepsiCo

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

PepsiCo Stock Performance

NASDAQ PEP opened at $164.93 on Friday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1 year low of $155.83 and a 1 year high of $192.38. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $226.74 billion, a PE ratio of 24.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.52. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $173.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $170.31.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.09. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.00% and a return on equity of 57.37%. The business had revenue of $18.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.50 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $1.355 dividend. This is a positive change from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.50%.

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.