Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (NASDAQ:KDP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (NASDAQ:KDP - Free Report) by 29.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,929,312 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 672,664 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.22% of Keurig Dr Pepper worth $109,791,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Keurig Dr Pepper by 9.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 102,183,144 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,829,824,000 after purchasing an additional 9,105,164 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Keurig Dr Pepper by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,609,224 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,908,289,000 after acquiring an additional 4,970,467 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Keurig Dr Pepper by 2.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 22,548,844 shares of the company's stock valued at $841,886,000 after purchasing an additional 591,316 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Keurig Dr Pepper by 5.0% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 15,318,743 shares of the company's stock worth $574,146,000 after purchasing an additional 730,297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its stake in Keurig Dr Pepper by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 13,342,765 shares of the company's stock valued at $445,648,000 after buying an additional 317,837 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.99% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Bevco B.V. Jab sold 69,000,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.65, for a total transaction of $2,252,850,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 214,443,879 shares in the company, valued at $7,001,592,649.35. This represents a 24.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on KDP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Keurig Dr Pepper from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Keurig Dr Pepper from $43.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Keurig Dr Pepper from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Keurig Dr Pepper from $42.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Keurig Dr Pepper from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $38.50.

Keurig Dr Pepper Price Performance

NASDAQ KDP traded down $0.03 on Friday, reaching $32.37. 24,740,072 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,391,974. The stock has a market cap of $43.91 billion, a PE ratio of 19.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.61. Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. has a 12 month low of $28.61 and a 12 month high of $38.28. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

Keurig Dr Pepper (NASDAQ:KDP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.51. The business had revenue of $3.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. Keurig Dr Pepper had a net margin of 15.04% and a return on equity of 10.45%. The company's revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.48 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Keurig Dr Pepper Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. Keurig Dr Pepper's payout ratio is currently 55.76%.

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.