Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP)

PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders bought 59,271 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 38% compared to the typical daily volume of 42,835 put options.

Institutional Trading of PepsiCo

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in PepsiCo by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 59,392 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,031,000 after buying an additional 6,574 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 470,387 shares of the company's stock worth $71,527,000 after buying an additional 11,538 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 22.7% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,449 shares of the company's stock worth $677,000 after buying an additional 824 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 126.6% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 2,579 shares of the company's stock worth $392,000 after buying an additional 1,441 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Windle Wealth LLC raised its holdings in PepsiCo by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Windle Wealth LLC now owns 41,942 shares of the company's stock worth $6,378,000 after buying an additional 3,484 shares during the last quarter. 73.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PepsiCo Trading Up 1.2%

PEP stock traded up $1.60 on Thursday, reaching $136.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,864,567 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,086,428. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $131.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $141.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $186.58 billion, a PE ratio of 20.01, a PEG ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.45. PepsiCo has a 12-month low of $127.60 and a 12-month high of $180.91.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $17.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.81 billion. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 58.28%. The business's revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.61 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that PepsiCo will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

PepsiCo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th were given a $1.4225 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. This is an increase from PepsiCo's previous quarterly dividend of $1.36. This represents a $5.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.18%. PepsiCo's dividend payout ratio is currently 83.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on PEP shares. Evercore ISI set a $140.00 target price on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group decreased their price target on PepsiCo from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Dbs Bank cut PepsiCo from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Citigroup decreased their price target on PepsiCo from $170.00 to $160.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on PepsiCo from $143.00 to $135.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PepsiCo presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $158.50.

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.