Brokerages Set PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) Target Price at $170.59

Shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) have received 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 issued a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $169.88.

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. CICC Research reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $195.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,371,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,280,471,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376,133 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,268,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,738,429,000 after purchasing an additional 2,775,679 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,079,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,717,069,000 after purchasing an additional 582,254 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,217,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,834,504,000 after purchasing an additional 3,856,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of PepsiCo in the fourth quarter valued at $2,729,565,000. 73.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PepsiCo Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of PepsiCo stock opened at $145.45 on Monday. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $149.04 and a 200 day moving average of $158.96. The firm has a market cap of $199.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.93, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.52. PepsiCo has a 1 year low of $141.51 and a 1 year high of $183.41.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued 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 company had revenue of $27.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.89 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.78 EPS. PepsiCo’s quarterly revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that PepsiCo will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $1.355 per share. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is currently 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.