PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Lowered to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Thursday morning.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on PEP. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $193.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on PepsiCo from $183.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup cut their target price on PepsiCo from $195.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Hsbc Global Res raised PepsiCo to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $158.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.47.

PepsiCo Stock Down 0.2 %

PEP stock opened at $145.35 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.89. PepsiCo has a fifty-two week low of $141.51 and a fifty-two week high of $183.41. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $152.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $164.39. The company has a market cap of $199.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.54.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $27.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.89 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.32% and a net margin of 10.18%. PepsiCo’s quarterly revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.78 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that PepsiCo will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.355 per share. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.94%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cross Staff Investments Inc lifted its holdings in PepsiCo by 0.9% during the third quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 7,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,204,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 2.1% in the third quarter. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $508,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. LCM Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. LCM Capital Management Inc now owns 7,573 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,288,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Demars Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 5,721 shares of the company’s stock valued at $973,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 1.6% during the third quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 4,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $733,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.