Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP)

PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors purchased 69,176 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 112% compared to the typical volume of 32,702 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PEP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. HSBC boosted their price target on PepsiCo from $145.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised PepsiCo from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $151.00 to $164.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $163.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on PepsiCo from $165.00 to $167.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $158.75.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PepsiCo

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in PepsiCo by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 59,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,031,000 after buying an additional 6,574 shares during the last quarter. Petrus Trust Company LTA bought a new stake in PepsiCo during the 1st quarter worth about $272,000. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC now owns 47,247 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,084,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares during the period. Scientech Research LLC bought a new position in PepsiCo during the 1st quarter worth about $958,000. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its position in PepsiCo by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 368,931 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,318,000 after acquiring an additional 4,300 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PepsiCo Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of PEP traded down $1.91 during trading on Monday, reaching $140.32. 4,105,681 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,563,263. The stock has a market cap of $191.86 billion, a PE ratio of 26.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.66 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $146.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $143.96. PepsiCo has a twelve month low of $127.60 and a twelve month high of $160.15.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 8th. The company reported $2.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $23.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.91 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 57.58%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.31 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that PepsiCo will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 6th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a $1.4225 dividend. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 108.17%.

PepsiCo Company Profile

PepsiCo, Inc (NASDAQ: PEP) is a multinational food and beverage company headquartered in Purchase, New York. The company develops, manufactures, markets and sells a broad portfolio of branded food and beverage products, including carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks, bottled water, sports drinks, juices, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, salty snacks, cereals, and other convenient foods. Its leading consumer brands include Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Tropicana, Quaker, Lay’s, Doritos and Cheetos, among others.

Formed through the 1965 merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay, PepsiCo has grown into a global business with integrated manufacturing, distribution and marketing operations.