PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Trading 0.1% Higher

PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) rose 0.1% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $173.51 and last traded at $172.37. Approximately 1,627,582 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 5,665,606 shares. The stock had previously closed at $172.27.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on PEP. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on PepsiCo from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $199.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $186.92.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. The company has a market capitalization of $237.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.53. The business has a 50 day moving average of $168.55 and a 200 day moving average of $167.42.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. PepsiCo had a net margin of 9.92% and a return on equity of 58.03%. The company had revenue of $27.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.67 earnings per share. PepsiCo’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $1.265 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $5.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.92%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is currently 77.02%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PepsiCo

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 95,514.1% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 42,876,248 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,746,023,000 after buying an additional 42,831,405 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 26,720,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,827,240,000 after acquiring an additional 4,629,947 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,001,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,227,287,000 after purchasing an additional 578,083 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,878,022 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,859,812,000 after purchasing an additional 595,357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,686,139,000. 73.07% of the stock is owned by 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.