PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Trading Down 2.4%

PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)’s stock price dropped 2.4% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $170.14 and last traded at $172.20. Approximately 3,411,047 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 40% from the average daily volume of 5,720,075 shares. The stock had previously closed at $176.46.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PEP has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on PepsiCo from $199.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on PepsiCo from $178.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on PepsiCo from $181.00 to $184.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on PepsiCo from $183.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, PepsiCo has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $187.33.

PepsiCo Stock Up 3.6 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $169.04 and a 200 day moving average of $167.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $243.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.53.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.09. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.37% and a net margin of 10.00%. The company had revenue of $18.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.08 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.50 earnings per share. PepsiCo’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $1.265 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $5.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.85%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.09%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PepsiCo

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PEP. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 59.4% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 993,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $168,747,000 after purchasing an additional 370,122 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,747,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in PepsiCo during the fourth quarter worth approximately $405,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 1.4% during the third quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 13,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,243,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 34.5% during the fourth quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC now owns 12,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,091,000 after purchasing an additional 3,159 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

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.