First Bank & Trust Grows Stock Holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. $PEP

First Bank & Trust raised its holdings in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 71.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,765 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,984 shares during the period. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $2,406,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PEP. State Street Corp increased its stake in PepsiCo by 1.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 59,499,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,356,155,000 after purchasing an additional 1,079,970 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in PepsiCo in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,330,594,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,617,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,912,476,000 after buying an additional 958,701 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,902,664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,250,290,000 after acquiring an additional 118,286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 30.0% during the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 8,641,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,207,230,000 after acquiring an additional 1,995,362 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about PepsiCo

Here are the key news stories impacting PepsiCo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PepsiCo launched a global “Pepsi Football Nation” platform to deepen fan engagement around football — a large, event-driven marketing push that can boost brand visibility, seasonal sales and promotional leverage. PepsiCo launches global ‘Pepsi Football Nation’ platform focused on fan culture
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/upbeat coverage: Zacks highlights PepsiCo as a long‑term growth stock citing consistent brand strength and growth initiatives — supportive for investor sentiment. Why PepsiCo (PEP) is a Top Growth Stock for the Long-Term
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend‑income appeal: inclusion among recommended “beaten‑down dividend aristocrats” keeps income‑focused buyers interested in PEP’s yield and defensive profile. 3 Beaten-Down Dividend Aristocrats to Scoop Up While Wall Street Chases AI Stocks Into a Cliff
• Positive Sentiment: Sector dynamic: reporting that Coca‑Cola faces 2026 margin pressure could be a relative positive for PepsiCo if PepsiCo can maintain pricing/actions while Coke lags. Coca-Cola Faces Margin Pressure: Can Pricing Power Hold?
• Neutral Sentiment: Investment thesis nuance: a Yahoo Finance piece discusses how PepsiCo’s investment story is shifting around pricing and 2026 growth expectations — useful context but mixed for near‑term price action. How The PepsiCo (PEP) Investment Story Is Shifting On Pricing And 2026 Growth Hopes
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest reports circulating show “significant increases” but list zero shares and 0.0 days to cover — this appears to be a data glitch and should not be treated as actionable.
• Neutral Sentiment: Corporate/community items (PepsiCo Foundation partnership with SUNY Westchester) are positive for ESG/PR but unlikely to move near‑term fundamentals. SUNY Westchester Community College and the PepsiCo Foundation Highlight Student Pathways to Career Success
• Neutral Sentiment: Miscellaneous sector/competitor stories and unrelated company news (e.g., Reed’s CEO change, snack‑discontinuation chatter) create background noise but have limited direct impact on PEP unless tied to category supply/portfolio shifts. Reed’s CEO steps down, COO named interim chief

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PEP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $170.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Evercore lifted their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $152.00 to $165.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Friday, January 9th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their target price on PepsiCo from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded PepsiCo from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $169.00.

PepsiCo Price Performance

PEP opened at $151.73 on Thursday. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 52-week low of $127.60 and a 52-week high of $171.48. The company has a 50 day moving average of $158.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $149.97. The company has a market cap of $207.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06.

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

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $1.4225 per share. 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 payout ratio is currently 94.83%.

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

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.