Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Sees Large Volume Increase

Shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) saw unusually-high trading volume on Thursday . Approximately 2,393,735 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 186% from the previous session’s volume of 836,867 shares.The stock last traded at $43.37 and had previously closed at $42.63.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PPC. Argus increased their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Bank of America cut shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $47.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.80.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $10.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.51.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.35. Pilgrim’s Pride had a net margin of 4.25% and a return on equity of 25.06%. The business had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Pilgrim’s Pride Co. will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Fabio Sandri sold 65,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.50, for a total value of $2,892,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 279,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,440,642.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Fabio Sandri sold 65,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.50, for a total value of $2,892,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 279,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,440,642.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew R. Galvanoni sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.31, for a total value of $281,515.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,241,292.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 82.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp bought a new stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride during the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Pilgrim’s Pride in the first quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 102.9% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 715 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

Pilgrim’s Pride Company 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.