Keurig Dr Pepper (NASDAQ:KDP) Sees Strong Trading Volume on Analyst Upgrade

Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (NASDAQ:KDP) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $37.00 to $40.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Approximately 13,843,231 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 47% from the previous session’s volume of 9,409,465 shares.The stock last traded at $33.00 and had previously closed at $33.74.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on KDP. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $36.00 target price on shares of Keurig Dr Pepper in a research note on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Keurig Dr Pepper from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $37.00 to $39.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Keurig Dr Pepper in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Keurig Dr Pepper from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Keurig Dr Pepper in a research note on Tuesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Keurig Dr Pepper news, major shareholder Bevco B.V. Jab purchased 3,619,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $33.34 per share, for a total transaction of $120,677,464.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 218,063,479 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,270,236,389.86. This represents a 1.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KDP. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Keurig Dr Pepper by 23.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,587,162 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,841,140,000 after purchasing an additional 22,856,757 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Keurig Dr Pepper by 36.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 54,656,384 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,755,564,000 after buying an additional 14,473,054 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Keurig Dr Pepper by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 102,183,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,829,824,000 after buying an additional 9,105,164 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its position in shares of Keurig Dr Pepper by 65.0% in the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 21,219,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $681,579,000 after buying an additional 8,363,192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Keurig Dr Pepper during the 4th quarter worth $197,819,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.99% of the company’s stock.

Keurig Dr Pepper Trading Down 0.4 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.57 billion, a PE ratio of 20.36, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.61. The business’s 50-day moving average is $31.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.94.

Keurig Dr Pepper (NASDAQ:KDP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.01 billion. Keurig Dr Pepper had a return on equity of 10.45% and a net margin of 15.04%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.55 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Keurig Dr Pepper Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. Keurig Dr Pepper’s payout ratio is 55.76%.

Keurig Dr Pepper Company Profile

Keurig Dr Pepper Inc owns, manufactures, and distributors beverages and single serve brewing systems in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: U.S. Refreshment Beverages, U.S. Coffee, and International. The U.S. Refreshment Beverages segment manufactures and distributes branded concentrates, syrup, and finished beverages.