PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the nineteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have given a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $170.3684.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PEP. Wall Street Zen cut shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 18th. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $175.00 to $176.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $154.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $154.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th.

Institutional Trading of PepsiCo

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in PepsiCo by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 59,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,031,000 after acquiring an additional 6,574 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new position in PepsiCo during the first quarter valued at $251,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in PepsiCo by 138.5% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $862,000 after acquiring an additional 3,790 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. grew its stake in PepsiCo by 10.1% during the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 38,164 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,039,000 after acquiring an additional 3,502 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in PepsiCo by 45.5% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 536,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,789,000 after purchasing an additional 167,707 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PepsiCo Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PEP opened at $149.12 on Friday. PepsiCo has a 1 year low of $127.60 and a 1 year high of $171.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company’s 50-day moving average is $155.25 and its 200 day moving average is $152.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $203.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.38.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.06. PepsiCo had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 56.61%. The company had revenue of $19.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.89 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.48 earnings per share. PepsiCo’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that PepsiCo will post 8.63 earnings per share for the current year.

PepsiCo announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, February 3rd that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is an increase from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is currently 89.32%.

About PepsiCo

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.