Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 15,681 Shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund decreased its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) by 33.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,882 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,681 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride were worth $854,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PPC. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 0.6% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 593,432 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,548,000 after purchasing an additional 3,281 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 1.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 300,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,860,000 after purchasing an additional 2,966 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 192.4% in the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 245,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,560,000 after purchasing an additional 161,623 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 237,002 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,555,000 after buying an additional 10,856 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Up 1.1 %

Pilgrim’s Pride stock opened at $36.14 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $8.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a fifty day moving average of $33.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.14. Pilgrim’s Pride Co. has a twelve month low of $19.96 and a twelve month high of $36.47.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 26th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $4.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.48 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 1.85%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.49) EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Pilgrim’s Pride Co. will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on PPC. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $38.00 price objective (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Pilgrim’s Pride from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com raised Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from a “c+” rating to a “b+” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 value of $1,332,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 257,065 shares in the company, valued at $8,565,405.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 82.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Pilgrim’s Pride Profile

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.