Keurig Dr Pepper (NASDAQ:KDP) Shares Gap Up to $32.34

Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (NASDAQ:KDP) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $32.34, but opened at $33.95. Keurig Dr Pepper shares last traded at $33.56, with a volume of 2,772,037 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on KDP shares. Wedbush dropped their price target on shares of Keurig Dr Pepper from $37.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Keurig Dr Pepper from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Keurig Dr Pepper from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Keurig Dr Pepper from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Keurig Dr Pepper from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Keurig Dr Pepper presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $36.45.

Keurig Dr Pepper Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average is $30.30 and its 200 day moving average is $31.03. The company has a market capitalization of $46.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Keurig Dr Pepper (NASDAQ:KDP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. Keurig Dr Pepper had a net margin of 14.72% and a return on equity of 9.93%. Keurig Dr Pepper’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Keurig Dr Pepper Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th were paid a $0.215 dividend. This represents a $0.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Keurig Dr Pepper’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Keurig Dr Pepper news, major shareholder Holdings B.V. Jab sold 13,043,478 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.90, for a total value of $376,956,514.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 283,443,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,191,528,103.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Robert James Gamgort acquired 171,821 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $29.10 per share, for a total transaction of $4,999,991.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,179,917 shares in the company, valued at approximately $92,535,584.70. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings B.V. Jab sold 13,043,478 shares of Keurig Dr Pepper stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.90, for a total transaction of $376,956,514.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 283,443,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,191,528,103.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 100,012,132 shares of company stock worth $2,890,354,861 in the last three months. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Keurig Dr Pepper

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KDP. Capital World Investors raised its position in Keurig Dr Pepper by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 108,032,566 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,599,652,000 after purchasing an additional 13,738,345 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Keurig Dr Pepper in the 4th quarter worth $317,979,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Keurig Dr Pepper by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 60,682,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,915,731,000 after acquiring an additional 6,926,582 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Keurig Dr Pepper by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 82,196,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,594,945,000 after acquiring an additional 5,490,242 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathstone Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Keurig Dr Pepper in the 4th quarter worth $105,569,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

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.