Royal Bank of Canada Begins Coverage on PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP)

Equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on shares of PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday. The brokerage set a $172.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 18.08% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $170.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of PepsiCo from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $158.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of PepsiCo to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.76.

PepsiCo Stock Up 1.5 %

PEP stock opened at $145.66 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $199.84 billion, a PE ratio of 21.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $152.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $164.53. PepsiCo has a fifty-two week low of $141.51 and a fifty-two week high of $183.41.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.02. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.18% and a return on equity of 57.32%. The firm had revenue of $27.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.78 EPS. PepsiCo’s quarterly revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that PepsiCo will post 8.15 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of PepsiCo

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PEP. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 15.8% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 293,824 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,016,000 after purchasing an additional 40,031 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 6.8% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 279,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,582,000 after purchasing an additional 17,833 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 12.4% in the third quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 13,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,352,000 after purchasing an additional 1,527 shares during the last quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 1.2% in the third quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 13,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,339,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacifica Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 4.6% in the third quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 20,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,473,000 after purchasing an additional 892 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PepsiCo Company Profile

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.