PepsiCo Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:PEP)

PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Traders acquired 93,376 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 102% compared to the average daily volume of 46,279 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PEP. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of PepsiCo in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on PepsiCo from $157.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 6th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their price target on PepsiCo from $152.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Barclays lifted their price target on PepsiCo from $140.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on PepsiCo from $153.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $156.95.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PepsiCo

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PEP. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of PepsiCo by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 59,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,031,000 after purchasing an additional 6,574 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in PepsiCo by 28.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 30,603 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,589,000 after acquiring an additional 6,712 shares during the last quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp lifted its holdings in PepsiCo by 95.6% in the first quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp now owns 5,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $877,000 after acquiring an additional 2,857 shares during the last quarter. Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc. lifted its holdings in PepsiCo by 2.3% in the first quarter. Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc. now owns 29,173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,374,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edmp Inc. acquired a new position in PepsiCo in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,617,000. 73.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PepsiCo Price Performance

NASDAQ:PEP opened at $151.55 on Friday. PepsiCo has a 12 month low of $127.60 and a 12 month high of $174.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $145.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $139.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. The firm has a market cap of $207.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.46.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 9th. The company reported $2.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.03. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 57.58% and a net margin of 7.82%.The company had revenue of $23.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.31 EPS. PepsiCo’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. PepsiCo has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.120-8.120 EPS. On average, analysts expect that PepsiCo will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.