Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC – Get Rating) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $31.00.

PPC has been the topic of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Pilgrim’s Pride from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 18th. StockNews.com upgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Pilgrim’s Pride from $36.00 to $29.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 25th.

Institutional Trading of Pilgrim’s Pride

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPC. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 158.6% during the 3rd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 777 shares during the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 635.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,427 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 1,233 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 114.3% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares during the period. AdvisorShares Investments LLC purchased a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride in the second quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride in the second quarter worth $53,000. 16.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Pilgrim’s Pride Price Performance

Pilgrim’s Pride stock opened at $25.98 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.11. Pilgrim’s Pride has a one year low of $20.23 and a one year high of $34.66. The company has a market capitalization of $6.14 billion, a PE ratio of 6.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 26th. The company reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $4.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.48 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 38.44% and a net margin of 5.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.67 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Pilgrim’s Pride will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Pilgrim’s Pride

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Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. is engaged in the production, processing, marketing and distribution of fresh, frozen, and value-added chicken products to retailers, distributors and foodservice operators. It operates through the following segments: U.S., U.K. & Europe and Mexico. The company was founded by Lonnie A.