PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Rating Lowered to “Equal Weight” at Barclays

Barclays cut shares of PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. Barclays currently has $156.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $168.00.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on PEP. Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on PepsiCo in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. They issued a $172.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on PepsiCo from $183.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on PepsiCo from $180.00 to $160.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on PepsiCo from $185.00 to $168.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, HSBC dropped their target price on PepsiCo from $186.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.88.

PepsiCo Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of PEP opened at $147.15 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $148.98 and its 200 day moving average is $159.41. The company has a market capitalization of $201.82 billion, a PE ratio of 21.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.52. PepsiCo has a 12-month low of $141.51 and a 12-month high of $183.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.02. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 58.87% and a net margin of 10.43%. The business 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 company posted $1.78 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that PepsiCo will post 8.3 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $1.355 per share. This represents a $5.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.99%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PEP. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of PepsiCo in the 4th quarter worth $2,729,565,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in PepsiCo during the 4th quarter valued at about $589,307,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in PepsiCo by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,217,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,834,504,000 after buying an additional 3,856,193 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in PepsiCo by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,268,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,738,429,000 after buying an additional 2,775,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in PepsiCo by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,021,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,293,049,000 after buying an additional 2,264,445 shares in the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.