PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on PepsiCo from $177.00 to $176.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on PepsiCo from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Redburn Atlantic raised PepsiCo to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. DZ Bank lowered PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $183.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on PepsiCo from $186.00 to $183.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $183.92.

PepsiCo Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PEP opened at $174.48 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $173.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $172.10. PepsiCo has a 1-year low of $158.03 and a 1-year high of $183.41. The stock has a market cap of $239.87 billion, a PE ratio of 25.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.53.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 8th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.01. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.32% and a net margin of 10.18%. The business had revenue of $23.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.86 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.25 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that PepsiCo will post 8.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of PepsiCo

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Flossbach Von Storch AG lifted its position in PepsiCo by 67.2% in the 1st quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 4,560,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $798,047,000 after buying an additional 1,832,385 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its stake in PepsiCo by 211.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,345,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,592,343 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in PepsiCo by 125.2% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,740,573 shares of the company’s stock worth $452,003,000 after purchasing an additional 1,523,631 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in PepsiCo by 429.3% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,454,793 shares of the company’s stock worth $254,603,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179,922 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in PepsiCo by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 13,547,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,234,400,000 after purchasing an additional 905,468 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

About PepsiCo

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.