PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Trading Up 0.5% – Here’s Why

Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) were up 0.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $144.89 and last traded at $144.67. Approximately 1,515,179 shares were traded 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on PEP shares. UBS Group cut their price target on PepsiCo from $193.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com lowered PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on PepsiCo from $184.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $171.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on PepsiCo from $183.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.47.

PepsiCo Stock Up 0.1 %

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

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.89 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.78 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.34 EPS for the current 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 given 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 currently 77.99%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PEP. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake 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 buying an additional 1,376,133 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,268,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,738,429,000 after buying an additional 2,775,679 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 1.9% in 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 buying an additional 582,254 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 18.1% in 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 buying an additional 3,856,193 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of PepsiCo in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,729,565,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.