UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Purchases 1,679 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp increased its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,554 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,679 shares during the period. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $4,190,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 2.0% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 4,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $777,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 59.8% in the third quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 4,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $723,000 after buying an additional 1,591 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 7.1% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,965 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC raised its position in PepsiCo by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 2,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $465,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC lifted its position in PepsiCo by 5.4% during the third quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 2,313 shares of the company’s stock valued at $393,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on PEP shares. Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. They issued a $172.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on PepsiCo from $183.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. BNP Paribas cut their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $162.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, HSBC dropped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $186.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.88.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of PepsiCo stock opened at $145.54 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $199.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.94, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.52. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $149.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $158.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.65. PepsiCo, Inc. has a one year low of $141.51 and a one year high of $183.41.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.02. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. The firm had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.78 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

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 paid a dividend of $1.355 per share. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.99%.

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.