Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $45.50.

Several analysts have commented on the company. Argus upped their price objective on Pilgrim’s Pride from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Bank of America cut Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $47.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Stephens initiated coverage on Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Pilgrim’s Pride from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Pilgrim’s Pride from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Up 3.6 %

Pilgrim’s Pride stock opened at $50.17 on Friday. Pilgrim’s Pride has a fifty-two week low of $25.23 and a fifty-two week high of $51.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.82. The company has a market capitalization of $11.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.12, a PEG ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.66.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.36. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 31.38% and a net margin of 5.46%. The business had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.58 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Pilgrim’s Pride will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pilgrim’s Pride news, CEO Fabio Sandri sold 65,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.50, for a total transaction of $2,892,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 279,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,440,642.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CFO Matthew R. Galvanoni sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.31, for a total value of $281,515.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,241,292.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Fabio Sandri sold 65,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was 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 directly owns 279,565 shares in the company, valued at $12,440,642.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 82.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PPC. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 145,879.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 827,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,116,000 after purchasing an additional 827,134 shares in the last quarter. TFB Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride during the third quarter valued at about $298,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 28.9% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 87,070 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,010,000 after acquiring an additional 19,518 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 61.6% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 29,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,349,000 after acquiring an additional 11,167 shares in the last quarter. 16.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.