PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Upgraded to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Loop Capital set a $164.00 price objective on PepsiCo in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $152.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of PepsiCo from $161.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $163.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $158.35.

PepsiCo Price Performance

PEP stock opened at $150.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.91. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $147.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $142.22. The company has a market capitalization of $205.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.14 and a beta of 0.42. PepsiCo has a 52-week low of $127.60 and a 52-week high of $160.15.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 8th. The company reported $2.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $23.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.91 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.58% and a net margin of 7.82%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.31 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that PepsiCo will post 8.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PepsiCo

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PEP. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in PepsiCo by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 136,936,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,081,034,000 after acquiring an additional 1,761,785 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in PepsiCo by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 59,499,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,356,155,000 after purchasing an additional 1,079,970 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in PepsiCo by 0.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 32,675,492 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,301,240,000 after purchasing an additional 86,695 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of PepsiCo by 9.7% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 29,031,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,833,406,000 after purchasing an additional 2,556,163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of PepsiCo in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,330,594,000. 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.