PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Shares Down 1%

PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) shares fell 1% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $174.04 and last traded at $174.09. 552,169 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 5,426,519 shares. The stock had previously closed at $175.78.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PEP. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. DZ Bank cut shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $183.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $184.00 to $182.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $185.53.

PepsiCo Stock Up 0.7 %

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $171.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $171.33. The firm has a market cap of $243.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.42, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 11th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $22.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.59 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.34% and a return on equity of 57.37%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a $1.355 dividend. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is presently 78.66%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PepsiCo

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in PepsiCo by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 3,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $693,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its position in PepsiCo by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 16,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,870,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC increased its position in PepsiCo by 3,345.6% in the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 179,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,391,000 after acquiring an additional 174,171 shares during the period. Marion Wealth Management increased its position in PepsiCo by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Marion Wealth Management now owns 8,382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,467,000 after acquiring an additional 494 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its position in PepsiCo by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 715,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,486,000 after acquiring an additional 11,485 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

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.