PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Shares Down 0.2% – Should You Sell?

PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) fell 0.2% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $141.71 and last traded at $142.59. 1,734,455 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 6,070,458 shares. The stock had previously closed at $142.84.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PEP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on PepsiCo from $185.00 to $168.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays downgraded PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $168.00 to $156.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com downgraded PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler began coverage on PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $171.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $168.12.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.82. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $148.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $155.14. The company has a market cap of $195.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.49.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.89 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. PepsiCo’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.78 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $1.355 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.79%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.99%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PepsiCo

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in PepsiCo during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,729,565,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in PepsiCo by 19,106.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,588,614 shares of the company’s stock valued at $688,017,000 after buying an additional 4,564,723 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth $589,307,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,217,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,834,504,000 after acquiring an additional 3,856,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 21.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,021,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,293,049,000 after acquiring an additional 2,264,445 shares in the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.