Abacus Planning Group Inc. Buys 214 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Abacus Planning Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 3.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,853 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the period. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $995,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PEP. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in PepsiCo by 7.2% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 13,547,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,234,400,000 after purchasing an additional 905,468 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,147,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,673,632,000 after buying an additional 700,092 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,403,398 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,221,089,000 after acquiring an additional 561,465 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,130,517 shares of the company’s stock worth $846,030,000 after acquiring an additional 57,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch AG increased its stake in PepsiCo by 67.2% in the first quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 4,560,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $798,047,000 after acquiring an additional 1,832,385 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on PEP. BNP Paribas began coverage on PepsiCo in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $174.00 target price for the company. Barclays raised their price objective on PepsiCo from $179.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Morgan Stanley downgraded PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $185.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $180.00 to $177.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $185.40.

PepsiCo Price Performance

PEP stock opened at $169.55 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $232.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.61, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $173.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $172.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.83. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 52-week low of $155.83 and a 52-week high of $183.41.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 11th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $22.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.59 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.37% and a net margin of 10.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.14 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $1.355 per share. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.66%.

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.