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 changed hands during 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.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on KDP. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Keurig Dr Pepper in a report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Keurig Dr Pepper from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $37.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Keurig Dr Pepper in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Keurig Dr Pepper from $39.00 to $36.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Keurig Dr Pepper in a research report on Tuesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Keurig Dr Pepper has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Bevco B.V. Jab bought 3,619,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $33.34 per share, for a total transaction of $120,677,464.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 218,063,479 shares in the company, valued at $7,270,236,389.86. This trade represents a 1.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

Keurig Dr Pepper Stock Down 0.4 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $45.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.61. 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 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 issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.01. Keurig Dr Pepper had a return on equity of 10.45% and a net margin of 15.04%. The business had revenue of $4.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.55 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Keurig Dr Pepper Dividend Announcement

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

About Keurig Dr Pepper

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.