Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Boosts Stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 116.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 617,014 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 332,558 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $101,764,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in PepsiCo by 3.6% in the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 3,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $693,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 3,345.6% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 179,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,391,000 after purchasing an additional 174,171 shares during the last quarter. Marion Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 6.3% during the first quarter. Marion Wealth Management now owns 8,382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,467,000 after purchasing an additional 494 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 715,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,486,000 after purchasing an additional 11,485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meyer Handelman Co. grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 3.9% during the first quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 253,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,412,000 after purchasing an additional 9,465 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on PEP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on PepsiCo from $182.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on PepsiCo from $180.00 to $177.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 12th. DZ Bank lowered PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $183.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $185.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, September 20th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $185.40.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PEP opened at $169.55 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $232.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.64. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1-year low of $155.83 and a 1-year high of $183.41. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $173.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $172.15.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 11th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.37% and a net margin of 10.34%. The firm had revenue of $22.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

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

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.