PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Shares Up 1.7% Following Analyst Upgrade

PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) saw its share price rise by 1.7% on Friday after Barclays upgraded its rating and increased its price target from $153.00 to $168.00. With this upgrade, Barclays has assigned an overweight rating to PepsiCo's stock. During trading, the stock reached a high of $156.44 and closed at $155.81. Total shares traded amounted to 2,247,973, which is significantly lower than the average daily volume of 7,113,541 shares. The previous closing price was $153.26.

Recent Analyst Ratings

Several other investment firms have also provided insights on PepsiCo. Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage with a price target of $172.00. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley adjusted their target from $185.00 to $168.00, maintaining an equal weight rating. UBS Group lowered their target from $193.00 to $175.00, giving the stock a buy rating. CICC Research reaffirmed a market perform rating, while JPMorgan Chase reduced their target price from $183.00 to $165.00, assigning a neutral rating. Overall, out of the analysts, one has a sell rating, twelve have a hold, and eight have given a buy rating. According to MarketBeat.com, the consensus rating on PepsiCo is a "Hold" with an average price target of $172.35.

Institutional Holdings

Recently, several large investors have altered their positions in PepsiCo. Empowered Funds LLC increased their stake by 9.2% during the third quarter, amounting to 99,785 shares valued at $16,968,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bolstered its holdings by 104.2% in the fourth quarter, now owning 1,705,574 shares worth $259,350,000 after acquiring an additional 870,451 shares. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position by 12.8%, bringing its ownership to 41,580 shares valued at $6,323,000. Additionally, Janus Henderson Group PLC expanded its stake by 11.0% during the third quarter, totaling 350,225 shares worth $59,549,000. Overall, about 73.07% of PepsiCo's stock is owned by institutional investors.

Stock Performance Overview

PepsiCo currently has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 0.82, and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock's fifty-day moving average price stands at $148.77, while its two-hundred-day moving average is at $161.10. PepsiCo's market capitalization is $213.88 billion, with a P/E ratio of 22.42, a PEG ratio of 3.09, and a beta of 0.52.

Recent Earnings Report

On February 4th, PepsiCo released its earnings results, reporting earnings per share (EPS) of $1.96, which surpassed the analysts’ expectations of $1.94 by $0.02. The company generated revenue of $27.78 billion for the quarter, slightly below the predicted $27.89 billion. PepsiCo achieved a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 58.87%, although revenue decreased by 0.2% compared to the same quarter last year. For the current fiscal year, analysts forecast an EPS of 8.3.

Dividend Announcement

In addition, PepsiCo has recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on March 31st. Shareholders on record as of March 7th will receive a dividend of $1.355 per share. The ex-dividend date for this payout is March 7th, representing an annualized dividend of $5.42, which gives a yield of 3.48%. The dividend payout ratio is currently at 77.99%.

Company Overview

PepsiCo, Inc. is involved in the manufacture, marketing, distribution, and sale of a wide variety of beverages and snack foods globally. The company operates across 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.

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