Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Has $20.32 Million Stock Position in Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 734,588 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,173 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride were worth $20,319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PPC. Amalgamated Bank raised its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 25,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $698,000 after acquiring an additional 1,921 shares during the period. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in the 4th quarter valued at about $861,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in the fourth quarter valued at about $259,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,299,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,939,000 after buying an additional 328,660 shares during the period. Finally, SummerHaven Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 30,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $849,000 after buying an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Up 2.0 %

Pilgrim’s Pride stock opened at $36.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company’s 50-day moving average is $35.75 and its 200-day moving average is $30.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.63 billion, a PE ratio of 17.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.77. Pilgrim’s Pride Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.96 and a fifty-two week high of $39.00.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.17. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 17.35% and a net margin of 2.80%. The firm had revenue of $4.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Pilgrim’s Pride Co. will post 3.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pilgrim’s Pride news, CEO Fabio Sandri sold 40,000 shares of the 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 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 82.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PPC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Pilgrim’s Pride from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “c+” rating to a “b+” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Bank of America increased their price objective 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, April 15th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $38.00 target price (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.25.

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.