PepsiCo Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:PEP)

PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders acquired 88,181 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 272% compared to the average daily volume of 23,720 call options.

Institutional Trading of PepsiCo

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cypress Capital Management LLC WY lifted its stake in PepsiCo by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Cypress Capital Management LLC WY now owns 838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. United Bank lifted its stake in PepsiCo by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. United Bank now owns 1,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in PepsiCo by 2.5% in the first quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,673 shares of the company’s stock valued at $415,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in PepsiCo by 3.3% in the first quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $317,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. lifted its stake in PepsiCo by 3.6% in the first quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 1,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of PEP opened at $149.12 on Friday. PepsiCo has a 12 month low of $127.60 and a 12 month high of $171.48. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $155.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $152.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $203.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.41, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.06. PepsiCo had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 56.61%. The business had revenue of $19.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.89 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.48 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that PepsiCo will post 8.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 89.32%.

PepsiCo announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 3rd that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on PEP shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $169.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $170.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $172.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $191.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, HSBC upped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $175.00 to $176.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $170.37.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo, Inc (NASDAQ: PEP) is a multinational food and beverage company headquartered in Purchase, New York. The company develops, manufactures, markets and sells a broad portfolio of branded food and beverage products, including carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks, bottled water, sports drinks, juices, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, salty snacks, cereals, and other convenient foods. Its leading consumer brands include Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Tropicana, Quaker, Lay’s, Doritos and Cheetos, among others.

Formed through the 1965 merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay, PepsiCo has grown into a global business with integrated manufacturing, distribution and marketing operations.