PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on the stock from $190.00 to $185.00. The stock had previously closed at $163.59, but opened at $159.10. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. PepsiCo shares last traded at $161.32, with a volume of 1,624,153 shares traded.

PEP has been the topic of several other research reports. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $200.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Barclays dropped their price objective on PepsiCo from $180.00 to $179.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. BNP Paribas began coverage on PepsiCo in a report on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $174.00 price target on the stock. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Argus cut shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $185.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PepsiCo news, CEO Ramkumar Krishnan sold 5,620 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,360.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,603,634. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PepsiCo

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Apella Capital LLC raised its position in PepsiCo by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 7,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,274,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 39,140 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,648,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. StrongBox Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. StrongBox Wealth LLC now owns 13,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,339,000 after purchasing an additional 1,483 shares in the last quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in PepsiCo by 329.2% in the fourth quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC now owns 65,544 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,132,000 after buying an additional 50,274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baldwin Brothers LLC MA lifted its holdings in PepsiCo by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA now owns 165,932 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,182,000 after buying an additional 2,075 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

PepsiCo Trading Up 1.5 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. The firm has a market cap of $228.74 billion, a PE ratio of 25.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.52. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $170.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.98.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 11th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $22.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.59 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.37% and a net margin of 10.00%. The firm’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a dividend of $1.355 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. This is an increase from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.50%.

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.