PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Stock Price Down 2.2% After Insider Selling

Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) dropped 2.2% on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $134.66 and last traded at $135.77. 7,471,948 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 8% from the average session volume of 8,159,289 shares. The stock had previously closed at $138.83.

Specifically, CEO Ramon Laguarta sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.13, for a total transaction of $4,053,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 491,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,435,988.85. This represents a 5.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PEP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore lowered their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $150.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 30th. Weiss Ratings lowered PepsiCo from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, September 24th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on PepsiCo from $145.00 to $133.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on PepsiCo from $176.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, PepsiCo presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.28.

Key PepsiCo News

Here are the key news stories impacting PepsiCo this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PepsiCo renewed its beverage partnership with Taco Bell through 2036, preserving an important distribution channel for Pepsi, Mountain Dew Baja Blast and future crafted, functional and energy drinks. The agreement is particularly supportive after Taco Bell’s sister chain, KFC, selected Coca-Cola in the U.S. Pepsi renews contract with Taco Bell
• Positive Sentiment: Increased options activity included more than 55,000 purchased call contracts, roughly 71% above typical volume. This may indicate speculative bullish interest, although options activity alone does not establish a durable change in investor sentiment. Unusual Options Volume Report
• Neutral Sentiment: PepsiCo is expanding beyond traditional soda and snacks with protein-focused Good Warrior bars, new Quaker snack products in India and other product-innovation initiatives. These efforts could support longer-term growth, but their near-term financial contribution is uncertain. PepsiCo’s Good Warrior enters protein bar space
• Negative Sentiment: PepsiCo is closing its Knoxville, Tennessee, bottling plant, affecting more than 100 jobs, amid sliding soft-drink volumes. The shutdown may reduce costs, but it also highlights pressure on North American beverage demand. PepsiCo shuts Tennessee bottling plant
• Negative Sentiment: Erste Group lowered its FY2026 and FY2027 EPS forecasts to $8.39 and $8.60, respectively. Separate commentary also questioned whether PepsiCo’s roughly 4% dividend yield is adequately covered by cash flow after the company reduced its earnings outlook, increasing concern about payout sustainability. PepsiCo dividend coverage concerns

PepsiCo Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $185.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $134.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $141.57.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 7th. The company reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.05. PepsiCo had a net margin of 11.09% and a return on equity of 53.08%. The business had revenue of $25.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.95 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.41 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PEP. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 118,281,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,015,363,000 after buying an additional 2,440,377 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 1.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,406,932 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,179,099,000 after acquiring an additional 987,582 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in PepsiCo by 0.6% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 21,283,701 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,305,146,000 after acquiring an additional 133,325 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 16.8% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 11,444,671 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,777,243,000 after acquiring an additional 1,647,506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 4.9% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,817,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,600,114,000 after acquiring an additional 549,336 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo, Inc (NASDAQ:PEP) is a global food and beverage company whose portfolio includes Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Lay’s, Doritos, Cheetos, Quaker, Tostitos, Fritos, and SodaStream. Its products span carbonated soft drinks, sports and energy beverages, bottled water, juices, convenient foods, snacks, and other packaged food offerings.

The company sells products through retail stores, restaurants, food-service providers, e-commerce platforms, and other distribution channels. PepsiCo serves consumers in North America and international markets across Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific.