Wells Fargo & Company Cuts PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Price Target to $135.00

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) had its price objective trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

PEP has been the topic of several other research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $163.00 to $161.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $173.00 to $164.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $145.00 to $142.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $138.00 price target (down from $155.00) on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $176.00 price target on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $150.20.

PepsiCo Stock Down 1.6%

PepsiCo stock opened at $123.73 on Monday. PepsiCo has a 1-year low of $123.47 and a 1-year high of $171.48. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $135.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $143.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $168.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.22, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.35.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 9th. The company reported $2.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $24.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.95 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 54.63% and a net margin of 10.78%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.92 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that PepsiCo will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th were given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 4th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.8%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PepsiCo news, EVP David Flavell sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.54, for a total transaction of $404,666.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 74,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,441,080.50. This trade represents a 3.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of PepsiCo

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PEP. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 2.1% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 118,281,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,015,363,000 after purchasing an additional 2,440,377 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,406,932 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,179,099,000 after buying an additional 987,582 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 14,857.8% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 49,252,907 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,068,777,000 after buying an additional 48,923,629 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 21,283,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,305,146,000 after buying an additional 133,325 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 4.9% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,817,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,600,114,000 after buying an additional 549,336 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key PepsiCo News

Here are the key news stories impacting PepsiCo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: A Delhi High Court interim ruling allows PepsiCo to continue using the “energy drink” label on existing Indian inventory, providing temporary relief from a proposed FSSAI labeling restriction. India energy drink labeling ruling
• Positive Sentiment: Carlsberg’s expansion into Georgia and Armenia increases PepsiCo’s bottling footprint to 17 markets across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, supporting international distribution through regional partners. PepsiCo bottling expansion
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts and options-market data point to potential upside if PepsiCo delivers an earnings beat, while the company’s sizeable dividend yield and long record of annual payout increases may attract income-focused investors. PEP earnings options outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts expect roughly $2.29–$2.30 in adjusted EPS on approximately $25 billion of revenue, with investors focused on North American snack volumes, pricing, margins, international growth and management’s outlook. PepsiCo Q3 earnings preview
• Negative Sentiment: Pre-earnings commentary is cautious: RBC described the quarter as potentially soft and lowered its price target to $150, citing limited top-line upside, persistent consumer pressure and rising freight and logistics costs. RBC PepsiCo price target cut
• Negative Sentiment: Weak U.S. snack demand, affordability concerns and the need to revive volumes are central investor worries. Analysts also question whether PepsiCo can meet growth and margin targets associated with activist investor Elliott Investment Management.
• Negative Sentiment: The growing use of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs is viewed as a longer-term risk to demand for salty snacks and sugary beverages, increasing pressure on PepsiCo to diversify and demonstrate sustainable growth. GLP-1 pressure on PepsiCo
• Negative Sentiment: PepsiCo is also managing a voluntary recall of approximately 122,000 cases of Gatorade over undeclared dyes, creating potential costs and reputational risk, although the financial impact is not yet clear. Gatorade recall

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo, Inc (NASDAQ:PEP) is a global food and beverage company that develops, manufactures, markets and distributes a broad portfolio of snacks, drinks and convenient foods. Its beverage brands include Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, 7UP in select markets, and bubly, while its food and snack brands include Lay’s, Doritos, Cheetos, Tostitos, Fritos, Quaker and Ruffles.

The company’s operations include beverage production and distribution, snack foods, convenient meals and nutrition-oriented products.