PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Trading Down 4.6% on Analyst Downgrade

PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)’s share price traded down 4.6% on Tuesday after Evercore ISI lowered their price target on the stock from $180.00 to $160.00. The stock traded as low as $143.61 and last traded at $143.32. 4,558,638 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 29% from the average session volume of 6,449,310 shares. The stock had previously closed at $150.27.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on PEP. HSBC cut their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $186.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. BNP Paribas cut their target price on PepsiCo from $162.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on PepsiCo in a research note on Tuesday. They set a $172.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on PepsiCo in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $171.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on PepsiCo from $183.00 to $158.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $174.53.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PepsiCo

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in PepsiCo by 17,113.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,220,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $547,626,000 after buying an additional 3,201,676 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of PepsiCo by 5.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,268,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,738,429,000 after acquiring an additional 2,775,679 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 21.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,021,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,293,049,000 after acquiring an additional 2,264,445 shares during the period. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in PepsiCo by 211.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,345,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $398,847,000 after acquiring an additional 1,592,343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in PepsiCo by 360.0% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,697,742 shares of the company’s stock worth $258,158,000 after purchasing an additional 1,328,672 shares during the period. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PepsiCo Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $196.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.16, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $152.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $164.71.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.02. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.32% and a net margin of 10.18%. The company had revenue of $27.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.89 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $1.355 dividend. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.94%.

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.