PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Shares Up 1.7% Following Analyst Upgrade

PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)’s share price shot up 1.7% on Friday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $153.00 to $168.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. PepsiCo traded as high as $156.44 and last traded at $155.81. 2,247,973 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 7,113,541 shares. The stock had previously closed at $153.26.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on PEP. Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on PepsiCo in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. They issued a $172.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $185.00 to $168.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group lowered their target price on PepsiCo from $193.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. CICC Research reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on PepsiCo from $183.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $172.35.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of PEP. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in PepsiCo by 9.2% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 99,785 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,968,000 after purchasing an additional 8,406 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 104.2% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,350,000 after purchasing an additional 870,451 shares during the period. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 41,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,323,000 after acquiring an additional 4,712 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in PepsiCo by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 350,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,549,000 after buying an additional 34,633 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 19.3% in the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,493,000 after acquiring an additional 5,220 shares during the period. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $148.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $161.10. The company has a market cap of $213.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.42, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.52.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.89 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.78 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.99%.

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.