PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Shares Down 0.6% – What’s Next?

PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) dropped 0.6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $173.51 and last traded at $173.91. Approximately 524,388 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average daily volume of 5,472,973 shares. The stock had previously closed at $175.01.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PEP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. DZ Bank lowered shares of PepsiCo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $183.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on PepsiCo from $180.00 to $179.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on PepsiCo from $177.00 to $176.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on PepsiCo from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded PepsiCo to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $183.92.

PepsiCo Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $173.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $172.23. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $237.29 billion, a PE ratio of 25.51, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.53.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 8th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.01. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.32% and a net margin of 10.18%. The company had revenue of $23.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.25 EPS. PepsiCo’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of PepsiCo

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PEP. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 13,547,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,234,400,000 after purchasing an additional 905,468 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,147,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,673,632,000 after purchasing an additional 700,092 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,403,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,221,089,000 after purchasing an additional 561,465 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,130,517 shares of the company’s stock valued at $846,030,000 after purchasing an additional 57,322 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch AG boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 67.2% during the 1st quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 4,560,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $798,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,832,385 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

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.