Optimum Investment Advisors Sells 350 Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Optimum Investment Advisors decreased its holdings in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 6.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,141 shares of the company’s stock after selling 350 shares during the period. Optimum Investment Advisors’ holdings in PepsiCo were worth $900,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Meyer Handelman Co. raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 3.9% in the first quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 253,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,412,000 after acquiring an additional 9,465 shares during the last quarter. Aurora Investment Managers LLC. raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 82.3% in the first quarter. Aurora Investment Managers LLC. now owns 7,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,313,000 after acquiring an additional 3,388 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 11.7% in the first quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 16,846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,948,000 after acquiring an additional 1,758 shares during the last quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 136.4% in the first quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. now owns 11,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,053,000 after acquiring an additional 6,769 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eldred Rock Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 1.0% in the first quarter. Eldred Rock Partners LLC now owns 34,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,088,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ramkumar Krishnan sold 5,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.00, for a total value of $1,000,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 53,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,603,634. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $178.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $209.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, Argus cut shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.17.

PepsiCo Price Performance

PEP opened at $167.28 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $173.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $170.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.86. PepsiCo, Inc. has a 52 week low of $155.83 and a 52 week high of $192.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $229.97 billion, a PE ratio of 25.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.52.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.09. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.00% and a return on equity of 57.37%. The firm had revenue of $18.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.50 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a $1.355 dividend. This is a positive change from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is 81.50%.

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.