PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Trading Up 1.5% After Analyst Upgrade

PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) rose 1.5% on Tuesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $158.00 to $159.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. PepsiCo traded as high as $143.83 and last traded at $143.89. Approximately 1,066,803 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 6,093,898 shares. The stock had previously closed at $141.73.

PEP has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays cut PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $168.00 to $156.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on PepsiCo in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $171.00 price objective on the stock. BNP Paribas decreased their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $162.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, TD Cowen cut 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $167.24.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ossiam increased its stake in PepsiCo by 138.9% in the fourth quarter. Ossiam now owns 73,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,192,000 after purchasing an additional 42,793 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 104.2% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,350,000 after purchasing an additional 870,451 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in PepsiCo by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 41,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,323,000 after buying an additional 4,712 shares during the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD increased its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,236,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,031,000 after acquiring an additional 61,541 shares during the period. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in PepsiCo by 147.6% in the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 14,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,229,000 after acquiring an additional 8,759 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $197.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.70, a P/E/G 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. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $148.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $154.56.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.89 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.78 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $1.355 dividend. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is currently 77.99%.

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.