Bank of America Increases Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Price Target to $40.00

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) had its price objective increased by Bank of America from $36.00 to $40.00 in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Bank of America‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 12.45% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “c+” rating to a “b+” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Pilgrim’s Pride has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $36.25.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ PPC opened at $35.57 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.36. The company has a market cap of $8.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. Pilgrim’s Pride has a 12-month low of $19.96 and a 12-month high of $36.15.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $4.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.48 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 12.90%. The company’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.49) EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Pilgrim’s Pride will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pilgrim’s Pride news, CEO Fabio Sandri sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.32, for a total transaction of $1,332,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 257,065 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,565,405.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 82.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Pilgrim’s Pride

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,857,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,861,000 after purchasing an additional 250,383 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,464,867 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,067,000 after acquiring an additional 401,749 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,691,177 shares of the company’s stock worth $102,097,000 after acquiring an additional 72,446 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 31.4% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,050,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,510,000 after acquiring an additional 490,356 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,319,356 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,583,000 after acquiring an additional 20,853 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

About Pilgrim’s Pride

Pilgrim's Pride Corporation produces, processes, markets, and distributes fresh, frozen, and value-added chicken and pork products to retailers, distributors, and foodservice operators. The company offers fresh products, including refrigerated whole or cut-up chicken, selected chicken parts that are either marinated or non-marinated, primary pork cuts, added value pork, and pork ribs; and prepared products, which include fully cooked, ready-to-cook and individually frozen chicken parts, strips, nuggets and patties, processed sausages, bacon, smoked meat, gammon joints, pre-packed meats, sandwich and deli counter meats and meat balls.