Analysts Set PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) PT at $170.59

Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the twenty ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have assigned a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $169.88.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PEP. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $180.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $195.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $171.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. They set a $172.00 price objective for the company.

Institutional Trading of PepsiCo

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 104.2% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,705,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,350,000 after acquiring an additional 870,451 shares during the period. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 41,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,323,000 after acquiring an additional 4,712 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 350,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,549,000 after acquiring an additional 34,633 shares during the period. IHT Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 19.3% in the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,493,000 after acquiring an additional 5,220 shares during the period. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,236,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,031,000 after acquiring an additional 61,541 shares during the period. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PepsiCo Stock Performance

PepsiCo stock opened at $148.11 on Monday. PepsiCo has a 12-month low of $141.51 and a 12-month high of $183.41. The company has a market capitalization of $203.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $148.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $159.50.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.02. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%. The firm had revenue of $27.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.89 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.78 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that PepsiCo will post 8.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.355 per share. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is 77.99%.

About PepsiCo

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.