PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Stock Price Down 0.5% – Should You Sell?

PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)’s stock price traded down 0.5% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $152.53 and last traded at $153.08. 1,399,857 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 7,075,875 shares. The stock had previously closed at $153.88.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. CICC Research reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective 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. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on PepsiCo in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $171.00 price target on the stock. BNP Paribas decreased their target price on PepsiCo from $162.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $153.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.35.

PepsiCo Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $211.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.52. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $148.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $161.14.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued 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 business had revenue of $27.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.89 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.355 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.51%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.99%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PepsiCo

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of PepsiCo in the 4th quarter worth about $255,000. TFR Capital LLC. bought a new position in PepsiCo in the fourth quarter worth about $207,000. Copley Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in PepsiCo by 4,210.1% during the fourth quarter. Copley Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,974 shares of the company’s stock valued at $452,000 after acquiring an additional 2,905 shares during the last quarter. GHE LLC increased its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. GHE LLC now owns 12,799 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,946,000 after acquiring an additional 682 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PepsiCo during the fourth quarter valued at $160,000. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.