PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP Shares Sold by ARS Investment Partners LLC

ARS Investment Partners LLC cut its position in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 4.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,033 shares of the company’s stock after selling 823 shares during the quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $2,117,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PEP. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in PepsiCo by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 136,936,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,081,034,000 after purchasing an additional 1,761,785 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in PepsiCo by 0.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 32,675,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,301,240,000 after purchasing an additional 86,695 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 5.0% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 26,475,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,969,698,000 after buying an additional 1,258,198 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 1.8% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 11,525,812 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,728,180,000 after buying an additional 208,292 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 4.5% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,328,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,698,544,000 after buying an additional 491,894 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. DZ Bank raised PepsiCo from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $167.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $140.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $157.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 6th. HSBC lifted their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $145.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, PepsiCo currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.95.

PepsiCo Stock Up 0.6%

PEP stock opened at $148.77 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $145.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $140.27. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 52 week low of $127.60 and a 52 week high of $165.13. The company has a market cap of $203.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.45.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 8th. The company reported $2.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.03. PepsiCo had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 57.58%. The company had revenue of $23.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.91 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.31 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.