Rep. Julia Letlow Purchases Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Representative Julia Letlow (Republican-Louisiana) recently bought shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP). In a filing disclosed on March 12th, the Representative disclosed that they had bought between $1,001 and $15,000 in PepsiCo stock on February 5th. The trade occurred in the Representative’s “MERRILL LYNCH INVESTMENT ACCOUNT #025” account.

Representative Julia Letlow also recently made the following trade(s):

• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Travelers Companies (NYSE:TRV) on 2/20/2026.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of BXP (NYSE:BXP) on 2/20/2026.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of HF Sinclair (NYSE:DINO) on 2/20/2026.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Vistra (NYSE:VST) on 2/17/2026.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) on 2/17/2026.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) on 2/17/2026.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Take-Two Interactive Software (NASDAQ:TTWO) on 2/12/2026.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) on 2/12/2026.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) on 2/12/2026.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN) on 2/12/2026.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of PEP opened at $150.59 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $205.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.10, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.67. PepsiCo, Inc. has a one year low of $127.60 and a one year high of $171.48. The business has a fifty day moving average of $158.55 and a 200 day moving average of $149.96.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $29.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.96 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.92% and a net margin of 8.77%.PepsiCo’s revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.96 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, February 3rd that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a $1.4225 dividend. This represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 94.83%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PepsiCo

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 3.6% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 554,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,916,000 after buying an additional 19,218 shares during the period. Clayton Financial Group LLC bought a new position in PepsiCo in the 3rd quarter valued at $872,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in PepsiCo by 2.6% in the second quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 185,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,554,000 after purchasing an additional 4,627 shares during the period. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 622.3% during the fourth quarter. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. now owns 35,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,110,000 after purchasing an additional 30,674 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kathmere Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 122.6% during the third quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 20,365 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,860,000 after purchasing an additional 11,217 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Key PepsiCo News

Here are the key news stories impacting PepsiCo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PepsiCo is expanding AI across its China operations (farming, manufacturing, distribution), a move investors view as a potential efficiency and margin tailwind; the announcement helped lift the stock in premarket trading. PepsiCo (PEP) Stock Gains 1.8% on China AI Expansion Announcement
• Positive Sentiment: The company is using commodity hedges to mitigate geopolitical and input-cost volatility, which should help protect margins if costs spike. PepsiCo mitigates geopolitical pressures by hedging commodities
• Positive Sentiment: New product innovation (e.g., the protein Doritos rollout) supports growth/brand momentum in snacking, a strategic positive for long-term category share. How PepsiCo designed its new protein Doritos to look and taste like the real thing
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple short-interest data entries show a reported jump but list “0 shares” and NaN changes — appears to be erroneous or a data-feed issue, so this is unlikely to meaningfully affect the stock today.
• Neutral Sentiment: PepsiCo Foundation / community engagement programs (SUNY Westchester) are positive PR but are unlikely to move the stock materially near term. SUNY Westchester Community College and the PepsiCo Foundation Highlight Student Pathways to Career Success
• Negative Sentiment: Sector pressure: Coca‑Cola commentary about 2026 margin pressure and pricing normalization raises concerns that beverage peers, including PepsiCo, may face similar headwinds on pricing and volume recovery. Coca-Cola Faces Margin Pressure: Can Pricing Power Hold?
• Negative Sentiment: Consumer backlash risk: reports that PepsiCo Foods may discontinue >20 snack SKUs have sparked negative online reaction; if true, product cuts or supply moves could create short-term brand/headline risk. Major food company might discontinue over 20 snacks: ‘Gonna start a war’

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PEP. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $172.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $154.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane set a $191.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Argus upgraded PepsiCo to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.00.

About Representative Letlow

Julia Letlow (Republican Party) is a member of the U.S. House, representing Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District. She assumed office on April 14, 2021. Her current term ends on January 3, 2027.

Letlow (Republican Party) is running for re-election to the U.S. House to represent Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District. She declared candidacy for the primary scheduled on November 3, 2026.

Julia Letlow earned a doctorate. Letlow’s career experience includes working as a senior administrator with the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

PepsiCo Company Profile

PepsiCo, Inc (NASDAQ: PEP) is a multinational food and beverage company headquartered in Purchase, New York. The company develops, manufactures, markets and sells a broad portfolio of branded food and beverage products, including carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks, bottled water, sports drinks, juices, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, salty snacks, cereals, and other convenient foods. Its leading consumer brands include Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Tropicana, Quaker, Lay’s, Doritos and Cheetos, among others.

Formed through the 1965 merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay, PepsiCo has grown into a global business with integrated manufacturing, distribution and marketing operations.