Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) by 175.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 135,817 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 86,430 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC owned 0.06% of Pilgrim’s Pride worth $3,148,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 63.5% in the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 114.3% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Machina Capital S.A.S. purchased a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride in the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 30.1% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. 16.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised Pilgrim’s Pride from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $26.00 to $28.00 in a report on Thursday, July 13th. TheStreet raised Pilgrim’s Pride from a “c” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Thursday, July 27th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Pilgrim’s Pride from $28.00 to $27.00 in a report on Thursday, June 1st. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Pilgrim’s Pride in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pilgrim’s Pride has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.40.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Performance

NASDAQ PPC opened at $24.76 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.88 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.72. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $24.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.38. Pilgrim’s Pride Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.96 and a fifty-two week high of $26.57.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $4.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.38 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.99%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.54 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Pilgrim’s Pride Co. will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Pilgrim’s Pride Company Profile

Pilgrim's Pride Corporation engages in the production, processing, marketing and distribution of fresh, frozen and value-added chicken, and pork products to retailers, distributors, and foodservice operators in the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, the Middle East, Asia, Continental Europe, and internationally.