PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Stock Price Up 2% Following Analyst Upgrade

PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)’s stock price traded up 2% during trading on Tuesday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $132.00 to $144.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. PepsiCo traded as high as $146.40 and last traded at $144.56. 2,630,055 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average session volume of 7,229,519 shares. The stock had previously closed at $141.70.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on PEP. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Dbs Bank lowered shares of PepsiCo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $140.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $160.00 to $168.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $158.73.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PepsiCo

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in PepsiCo during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,729,565,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in PepsiCo during the 1st quarter worth approximately $946,978,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in PepsiCo by 19,106.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,588,614 shares of the company’s stock worth $688,017,000 after buying an additional 4,564,723 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in PepsiCo during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $460,110,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of PepsiCo by 106.1% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,514,965 shares of the company’s stock valued at $527,034,000 after purchasing an additional 1,809,391 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $132.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $199.94 billion, a PE ratio of 26.60, a P/E/G ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.45.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $22.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.28 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 8.23% and a return on equity of 57.81%. PepsiCo’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.28 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th were paid a $1.4225 dividend. This is a boost from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.90%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 103.64%.

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.