Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the four research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $36.25.

Several research analysts have commented on PPC shares. TheStreet upgraded shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “c+” rating to a “b+” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted 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. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $38.00 price objective (up from $35.00) on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th.

Pilgrim’s Pride Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of PPC stock opened at $35.57 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $32.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company has a market capitalization of $8.43 billion, a PE ratio of 26.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.82. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 26th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $4.50 billion during 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.49) earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Pilgrim’s Pride will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Fabio Sandri sold 40,000 shares of Pilgrim’s Pride stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.32, for a total value of $1,332,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 257,065 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,565,405.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 82.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pilgrim’s Pride

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 213.6% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,234,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,145,000 after acquiring an additional 840,850 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 592.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 970,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,160,000 after buying an additional 830,555 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 244.5% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 694,525 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,925,000 after buying an additional 492,934 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 31.4% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,050,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,510,000 after buying an additional 490,356 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 71.0% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,077,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,034,000 after buying an additional 447,019 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.