Investors Buy High Volume of PepsiCo Put Options (NASDAQ:PEP)

PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 33,914 put options on the company. This is an increase of 59% compared to the typical daily volume of 21,389 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PepsiCo

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PEP. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in PepsiCo by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 99,785 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,968,000 after purchasing an additional 8,406 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of PepsiCo by 11.0% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 350,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,549,000 after purchasing an additional 34,633 shares during the period. IHT Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in PepsiCo by 19.3% in the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,493,000 after buying an additional 5,220 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in PepsiCo in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $9,589,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in PepsiCo during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $527,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America dropped their price objective on PepsiCo from $190.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of PepsiCo from $177.00 to $176.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of PepsiCo from $186.00 to $183.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley downgraded PepsiCo from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $185.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised PepsiCo to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $184.31.

PepsiCo Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of PepsiCo stock opened at $149.65 on Friday. PepsiCo has a 52-week low of $149.56 and a 52-week high of $183.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $159.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $167.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. The company has a market cap of $205.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.07, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.52.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 8th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $23.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.86 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.32% and a net margin of 10.18%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.25 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that PepsiCo will post 8.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PepsiCo Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $1.355 dividend. This represents a $5.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. PepsiCo’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.94%.

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.