PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

by · The Cerbat Gem

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP – Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning.

PEP has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on PepsiCo from $161.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Citigroup boosted their target price on PepsiCo from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $163.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $150.00 to $152.00 in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $158.75.

View Our Latest Analysis on PEP

PepsiCo Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:PEP opened at $144.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market cap of $197.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.42, a P/E/G ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50 day moving average of $147.09 and a 200-day moving average of $143.59. PepsiCo has a one year low of $127.60 and a one year high of $160.15.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 8th. The company reported $2.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $23.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.91 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 57.58%. PepsiCo’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.31 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that PepsiCo will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 6th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a $1.4225 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is presently 108.17%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PEP. Claris Advisors LLC MO grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 14.1% during the 2nd quarter. Claris Advisors LLC MO now owns 2,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $329,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the period. Foster Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 5,169 shares of the company’s stock valued at $683,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of PepsiCo by 46.4% during the second quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 114,344 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,098,000 after purchasing an additional 36,239 shares in the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. grew its stake in PepsiCo by 2.5% in the second quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 25,309 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,342,000 after purchasing an additional 620 shares during the period. Finally, Clayton Financial Group LLC bought a new position in PepsiCo in the third quarter worth $872,000. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PepsiCo Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

PepsiCo, Inc (NASDAQ: PEP) is a multinational food and beverage company headquartered in Purchase, New York. The company develops, manufactures, markets and sells a broad portfolio of branded food and beverage products, including carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks, bottled water, sports drinks, juices, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, salty snacks, cereals, and other convenient foods. Its leading consumer brands include Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Tropicana, Quaker, Lay’s, Doritos and Cheetos, among others.

Formed through the 1965 merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay, PepsiCo has grown into a global business with integrated manufacturing, distribution and marketing operations.

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