PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Trading Up 0.5% – What’s Next?

Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) rose 0.5% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $144.89 and last traded at $144.67. Approximately 1,515,179 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 6,733,933 shares. The stock had previously closed at $143.99.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PEP has been the topic of a number of research reports. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $185.00 to $168.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. HSBC reduced their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $186.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $195.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.47.

PepsiCo Trading Up 0.1 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $197.62 billion, a PE ratio of 20.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $150.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $163.54.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.02. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. The business had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.78 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.76%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.99%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PepsiCo

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,371,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,280,471,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376,133 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,268,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,738,429,000 after acquiring an additional 2,775,679 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,079,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,717,069,000 after acquiring an additional 582,254 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,217,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,834,504,000 after acquiring an additional 3,856,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of PepsiCo during the 4th quarter valued at $2,729,565,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

PepsiCo Company Profile

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.