Keurig Dr Pepper (NASDAQ:KDP) Lifted to “Buy” at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Keurig Dr Pepper (NASDAQ:KDP) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $43.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $36.00.

KDP has been the subject of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Keurig Dr Pepper from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Keurig Dr Pepper from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Truist Financial raised shares of Keurig Dr Pepper from a sell rating to a hold rating and raised their target price for the stock from $27.00 to $34.00 in a report on Monday, June 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $41.00 target price on shares of Keurig Dr Pepper in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Keurig Dr Pepper from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 19th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $37.53.

Keurig Dr Pepper Stock Performance

Shares of KDP stock opened at $37.53 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Keurig Dr Pepper has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $38.28. The company has a market cap of $50.89 billion, a PE ratio of 24.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.62.

Keurig Dr Pepper (NASDAQ:KDP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.45. Keurig Dr Pepper had a net margin of 14.47% and a return on equity of 10.32%. The company had revenue of $3.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.91 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. Keurig Dr Pepper’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Keurig Dr Pepper will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Keurig Dr Pepper Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. This is an increase from Keurig Dr Pepper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Keurig Dr Pepper’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.48%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in Keurig Dr Pepper by 254.6% in the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 95,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,941,000 after buying an additional 68,840 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Keurig Dr Pepper by 608.0% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 813,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,108,000 after purchasing an additional 698,665 shares during the last quarter. Twin Tree Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Keurig Dr Pepper in the 1st quarter valued at $512,000. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Keurig Dr Pepper in the 1st quarter worth about $11,375,000. Finally, PBCay One RSC Ltd acquired a new stake in Keurig Dr Pepper during the 4th quarter worth about $1,543,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

About Keurig Dr Pepper

Keurig Dr Pepper Inc owns, manufactures, and distributors beverages and single serve brewing systems in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: U.S. Refreshment Beverages, U.S. Coffee, and International. The U.S. Refreshment Beverages segment manufactures and distributes branded concentrates, syrup, and finished beverages.