Keurig Dr Pepper, Inc (NASDAQ:KDP) Short Interest Up 31.5% in March

Keurig Dr Pepper, Inc (NASDAQ:KDP) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 53,588,908 shares, a growth of 31.5% from the March 15th total of 40,751,573 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 10,528,088 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.1 days. Approximately 4.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KDP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on Keurig Dr Pepper from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Keurig Dr Pepper from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Evercore raised Keurig Dr Pepper to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Barclays lowered their target price on Keurig Dr Pepper from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Keurig Dr Pepper from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.38.

Institutional Trading of Keurig Dr Pepper

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KDP. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Keurig Dr Pepper during the 4th quarter worth approximately $727,667,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Keurig Dr Pepper during the 4th quarter worth approximately $568,361,000. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Keurig Dr Pepper by 1,987.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,858,031 shares of the company’s stock worth $472,193,000 after purchasing an additional 16,050,437 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Keurig Dr Pepper by 37.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 57,003,344 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,596,664,000 after purchasing an additional 15,393,753 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Keurig Dr Pepper by 285.3% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,636,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $325,925,000 after purchasing an additional 8,615,869 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.99% of the company’s stock.

Keurig Dr Pepper Stock Performance

KDP traded up $0.49 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $26.53. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,328,686 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,652,312. The stock has a market cap of $36.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.34, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Keurig Dr Pepper has a twelve month low of $24.88 and a twelve month high of $35.94.

Keurig Dr Pepper (NASDAQ:KDP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.01. Keurig Dr Pepper had a return on equity of 11.14% and a net margin of 12.52%.The firm had revenue of $4.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.58 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Keurig Dr Pepper has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.130-2.170 EPS. Research analysts expect that Keurig Dr Pepper will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Keurig Dr Pepper Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 27th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 27th. Keurig Dr Pepper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.13%.

About Keurig Dr Pepper

Keurig Dr Pepper (NASDAQ: KDP) is a North American beverage company formed in July 2018 through the combination of Keurig Green Mountain and Dr Pepper Snapple Group. The company designs, manufactures, markets and distributes a wide range of hot and cold beverages and related equipment, combining Keurig’s single‑serve coffee systems with a large portfolio of carbonated and noncarbonated drink brands. It operates a network of manufacturing, packaging and distribution facilities to supply retail, foodservice and e-commerce channels across its served markets.

The company’s product mix includes single‑serve coffee brewers and coffee pods under the Keurig brand as well as a broad assortment of branded beverages.