PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) to Issue $1.36 Quarterly Dividend

PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of 1.355 per share on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%.

PepsiCo has raised its dividend by an average of 7.9% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 35 years. PepsiCo has a dividend payout ratio of 59.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect PepsiCo to earn $8.51 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.42 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 63.7%.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

Shares of PEP traded up $2.17 on Wednesday, reaching $145.66. 9,247,016 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,982,719. The firm has a market cap of $199.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.70. PepsiCo has a 12 month low of $141.51 and a 12 month high of $183.41. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $152.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $164.53.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.02. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.32% and a net margin of 10.18%. The business had revenue of $27.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.78 earnings per share. PepsiCo’s quarterly revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that PepsiCo will post 8.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on PEP. HSBC reduced their price objective on PepsiCo from $186.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Redburn Atlantic raised PepsiCo to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group cut their price target on PepsiCo from $193.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com raised PepsiCo from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on PepsiCo from $184.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, PepsiCo currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.76.

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.