PepsiCo Tumbles On Peltz's Departure

Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. PEP were trading down more than 1.8 percent on Friday afternoon, after Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management filed its latest 13F, which didn't include the stock. As of the end of the previous quarter , the firm held 18,316,211 shares of the company. Valued at roughly $1.83 billion by December 31, the stake accounted for approximately 14,8 percent of its total equity portfolio’s value, standing as its third largest equity position.

According to the new SEC filing, Trian sold all of its PepsiCo stock sometime between January 1 and March 31, leaving its place as Peltz’s third-favorite stock to Mondelez International Inc MDLZ, a company of which the firm held 48,028,164 shares, or $1.92 billion in stock by March 31.

Interestingly, Peltz has identified Mondelez as a potential merger partner for PepsiCo. The fact that the investor kept its stake in the former while disposing its position in the latter could be seen as an indicator of who he believes stands to benefit the most from such a merger.

In a statement sent to CNBC, the fund explained it “believes PepsiCo has addressed many operational issues identified by Trian – management has increased productivity efforts, reduced overhead, increased advertising investment, and delivered consistent earnings growth on a constant currency basis."

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any of the securities mentioned above.