Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Hits New 12-Month High at $36.59

Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $36.59 and last traded at $36.22, with a volume of 85050 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.95.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on PPC. TheStreet upgraded shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “c+” rating to a “b+” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $38.00 price target (up from $35.00) on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Pilgrim’s Pride from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. 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 report on Tuesday, February 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pilgrim’s Pride currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.25.

Pilgrim’s Pride Trading Up 0.9 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.43. The stock has a market cap of $8.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.77.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $4.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Pilgrim’s Pride Co. will post 3.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pilgrim’s Pride

In other news, CEO Fabio Sandri sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 82.63% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pilgrim’s Pride

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,691,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,097,000 after purchasing an additional 72,446 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 734,588 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,319,000 after acquiring an additional 8,173 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 0.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 593,432 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,548,000 after acquiring an additional 3,281 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 1.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 300,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,860,000 after acquiring an additional 2,966 shares during the period. 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.