Kentucky Retirement Systems Has $14.35 Million Stock Position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lessened its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 94,390 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,301 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in PepsiCo were worth $14,353,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Highline Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PepsiCo during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Collier Financial bought a new position in shares of PepsiCo during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of PepsiCo during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 93.2% during the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Capital Management Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of PepsiCo during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PEP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays cut their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $158.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $193.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. CICC Research reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $195.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.47.

PepsiCo Price Performance

Shares of PepsiCo stock opened at $149.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $148.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $162.49. PepsiCo, Inc. has a twelve month low of $141.51 and a twelve month high of $183.41. The firm has a market cap of $204.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.54.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $27.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.89 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.78 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $1.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.99%.

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.