PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Trading 1.7% Higher – Still a Buy?

PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) rose 1.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $148.21 and last traded at $148.28. Approximately 1,384,745 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 6,722,384 shares. The stock had previously closed at $145.81.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on PEP shares. Morgan Stanley reduced 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 report on Wednesday, February 5th. CICC Research reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on PepsiCo from $180.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.47.

PepsiCo Stock Up 2.0 %

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $148.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $162.49. The company has a market cap of $203.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.41, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.02. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.87% and a net margin of 10.43%. The firm had revenue of $27.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.89 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.78 earnings per share. PepsiCo’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.34 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $1.355 per share. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.99%.

Institutional Trading of PepsiCo

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in PepsiCo by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,371,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,280,471,000 after acquiring an additional 1,376,133 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 5.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,268,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,738,429,000 after purchasing an additional 2,775,679 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in PepsiCo by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,079,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,717,069,000 after buying an additional 582,254 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,217,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,834,504,000 after acquiring an additional 3,856,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of PepsiCo during the fourth quarter worth about $2,729,565,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

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.