Charter Research & Investment Group Inc. Reduces Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Charter Research & Investment Group Inc. reduced its stake in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,178 shares of the company’s stock after selling 254 shares during the quarter. PepsiCo comprises 4.6% of Charter Research & Investment Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. Charter Research & Investment Group Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $5,590,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its position in PepsiCo by 100,174.2% in the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 531,509,481 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,446,186,000 after buying an additional 530,979,425 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in PepsiCo by 95,514.1% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 42,876,248 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,746,023,000 after buying an additional 42,831,405 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in PepsiCo by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 26,720,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,827,240,000 after buying an additional 4,629,947 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in PepsiCo by 1.9% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,126,523 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,751,555,000 after buying an additional 489,343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in PepsiCo by 5.1% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,880,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,259,567,000 after purchasing an additional 872,064 shares in the last quarter. 71.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

PepsiCo Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of PEP opened at $166.30 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $167.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $178.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $228.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.95, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 1-year low of $155.83 and a 1-year high of $196.88.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 10th. The company reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.10. PepsiCo had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 58.28%. The firm had revenue of $23.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.97 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 7.55 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 5th. Investors of record on Friday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $1.265 per share. This represents a $5.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.04%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 84.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Argus decreased their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $212.00 to $186.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 11th. Wedbush reduced their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $206.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $210.00 to $190.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 11th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $200.00 to $180.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 11th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of PepsiCo from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $187.57.

Insider Activity at PepsiCo

In related news, CFO Hugh F. Johnston sold 48,388 shares of PepsiCo stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.65, for a total transaction of $8,063,860.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 96,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,102,889.55. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

PepsiCo Profile

PepsiCo, Inc manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells 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.