PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Trading 1.7% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)’s share price traded up 1.7% on Friday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $153.00 to $168.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. PepsiCo traded as high as $156.44 and last traded at $155.81. 2,247,973 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 7,113,541 shares. The stock had previously closed at $153.26.

PEP has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. They set a $172.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $185.00 to $168.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. BNP Paribas dropped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $162.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $184.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, CICC Research restated a “market perform” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.35.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PepsiCo

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 99,785 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,968,000 after purchasing an additional 8,406 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in PepsiCo by 104.2% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,350,000 after buying an additional 870,451 shares during the period. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV boosted 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 valued at $6,323,000 after buying an additional 4,712 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in PepsiCo by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 350,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,549,000 after buying an additional 34,633 shares during the period. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 19.3% in the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,493,000 after purchasing an additional 5,220 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $148.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $160.96. 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 has a market capitalization of $211.81 billion, a PE ratio of 22.22, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.52.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.89 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. PepsiCo’s quarterly revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.78 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.51%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is 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.