PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Trading Up 2% – Here’s Why

PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) was up 2% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $143.57 and last traded at $142.84. Approximately 6,052,161 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 1% from the average daily volume of 6,108,149 shares. The stock had previously closed at $140.09.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on PEP shares. HSBC lowered their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $186.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on PepsiCo from $183.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup dropped their price target on PepsiCo from $195.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $171.00 price objective for the company. One investment 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $148.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $155.14. The firm has a market cap of $195.88 billion, a PE ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.82.

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

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of PepsiCo

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in 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. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 582,254 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in PepsiCo by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,217,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,834,504,000 after purchasing an additional 3,856,193 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of PepsiCo in the 4th quarter valued at $2,729,565,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in PepsiCo by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,403,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,494,300,000 after buying an additional 1,306,818 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.