Meritage Portfolio Management Acquires 48,946 Shares of Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (NASDAQ:KDP)

Meritage Portfolio Management lifted its holdings in shares of Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (NASDAQ:KDP) by 53.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 140,415 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 48,946 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Keurig Dr Pepper were worth $4,679,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in KDP. DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its stake in shares of Keurig Dr Pepper by 24.3% during the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 2,604,968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,820,000 after acquiring an additional 509,393 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Keurig Dr Pepper by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 294,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,824,000 after acquiring an additional 36,560 shares during the period. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH lifted its stake in shares of Keurig Dr Pepper by 43.8% during the fourth quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 1,099,145 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,624,000 after acquiring an additional 334,954 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Keurig Dr Pepper during the third quarter valued at $245,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Keurig Dr Pepper by 15.0% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,994,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $252,396,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044,167 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Keurig Dr Pepper

In related news, Director Robert S. Singer sold 12,132 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.25, for a total transaction of $354,861.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 37,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,101,057.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, major shareholder Holdings B.V. Jab sold 13,043,478 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.90, for a total value of $376,956,514.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 283,443,879 shares in the company, valued at $8,191,528,103.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert S. Singer sold 12,132 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.25, for a total value of $354,861.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 37,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,101,057.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 100,012,132 shares of company stock worth $2,890,354,861. Insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wedbush cut their target price on Keurig Dr Pepper from $37.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Keurig Dr Pepper from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Keurig Dr Pepper from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Barclays increased their target price on Keurig Dr Pepper from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Keurig Dr Pepper from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $36.45.

Keurig Dr Pepper Stock Performance

NASDAQ:KDP traded up $1.50 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $33.84. 14,555,749 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,583,311. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.38. Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.66 and a fifty-two week high of $35.80.

Keurig Dr Pepper (NASDAQ:KDP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.01. Keurig Dr Pepper had a return on equity of 9.93% and a net margin of 14.72%. The firm had revenue of $3.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Keurig Dr Pepper Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th were given a $0.215 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. Keurig Dr Pepper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.48%.

Keurig Dr Pepper Profile

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.