Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. Lowers Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. decreased its position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 17.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,920 shares of the company’s stock after selling 854 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $664,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 59.4% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 993,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $168,747,000 after purchasing an additional 370,122 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,747,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of PepsiCo during the fourth quarter worth $405,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 1.4% during the third quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 13,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,243,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 34.5% during the fourth quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC now owns 12,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,091,000 after purchasing an additional 3,159 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PEP shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $185.00 to $176.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Citigroup raised shares of PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $180.00 to $195.00 in a report on Monday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $199.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $186.92.

PepsiCo Stock Down 0.2 %

PEP opened at $168.10 on Monday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a twelve month low of $155.83 and a twelve month high of $196.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $168.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.40. The company has a market cap of $231.06 billion, a PE ratio of 25.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.53.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. PepsiCo had a net margin of 9.92% and a return on equity of 58.03%. The firm had revenue of $27.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.67 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $1.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $5.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is 77.02%.

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.