5 Best Dividend Stocks According to Tom Russo’s Gardner Russo & Gardner

4. PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 62
Dividend Yield as of May 30: 2.68%
Gardner Russo & Gardner’s Stake Value: $3,627,000

In Q1 2022, PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) topped analysts’ expectations, posting an EPS of $1.29, which beat estimates by $0.06. The company’s revenue of $16.2 billion also surpassed market estimates by $660 million. Wall Street analysts presented a positive stance on the company after its quarterly reports. In April, both JPMorgan and Guggenheim raised their price targets on PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) to $186 and $193, respectively.

At the end of Q1 2022, Gardner Russo & Gardner held stakes worth over $3.6 million in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP), which represented 0.03% of Tom Russo’s portfolio. The hedge fund has been investing in the company since 2010.

In May, PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) announced a quarterly dividend of $1.15 per share, growing it by 7%. This marked the company’s 50^th consecutive year of dividend growth. The stock’s dividend yield was recorded at 2.68% on May 30.

As per Insider Monkey’s Q1 2022 database, 62 hedge funds held stakes in PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP), valued at roughly $4.9 billion. In the previous quarter, 60 hedge funds held positions in the company, worth over $4.6 billion.

ClearBridge Investments mentioned PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) in its Q4 2021 investor letter. Here is what the firm has to say:

“The pandemic created opportunities for us to be more aggressive in a variety of areas of the market. We were opportunistic throughout the year. After a strong year for equities, we sought to bolster more defensive areas of the portfolio and added to PepsiCo, increasing our exposure to a high-quality and stable name.”