PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) Short Interest Up 16.0% in February

PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 20,920,000 shares, an increase of 16.0% from the February 13th total of 18,040,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 7,270,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on PEP. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on PepsiCo from $185.00 to $168.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group dropped their price target on PepsiCo from $193.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $183.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $171.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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 note on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.88.

PepsiCo Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ:PEP traded down $0.95 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $147.17. 1,946,993 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,375,564. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $148.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $159.50. PepsiCo has a one year low of $141.51 and a one year high of $183.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.52. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.96 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 company had revenue of $27.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.78 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.68%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is 77.99%.

Institutional Trading of PepsiCo

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 211.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,345,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $398,847,000 after acquiring an additional 1,592,343 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its stake in PepsiCo by 2.0% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 4,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $777,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. New England Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 3.1% during the third quarter. New England Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,936,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the period. Windle Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Windle Wealth LLC now owns 38,458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,540,000 after buying an additional 1,639 shares during the period. Finally, Aviance Capital Partners LLC increased its position in PepsiCo by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,813,000 after buying an additional 876 shares in the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.