Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) Stake Lessened by Rhumbline Advisers

Rhumbline Advisers lowered its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) by 9.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 106,333 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,082 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride were worth $5,796,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PPC. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 102.0% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 16,381 shares of the company’s stock worth $744,000 after acquiring an additional 827,381 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 44.1% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,883,708 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,502,000 after acquiring an additional 576,438 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 26.8% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,845,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,766,000 after acquiring an additional 389,967 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 156.4% during the fourth quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 333,077 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,118,000 after acquiring an additional 203,192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ruffer LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride during the fourth quarter worth $8,381,000. 16.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PPC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Santander initiated coverage on Pilgrim’s Pride in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.40.

Pilgrim’s Pride Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:PPC opened at $45.75 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $10.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.03 and a beta of 0.48. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $49.64 and its 200-day moving average is $49.70. Pilgrim’s Pride Co. has a 52-week low of $34.37 and a 52-week high of $57.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 2.01.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $4.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 32.83% and a net margin of 6.08%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.77 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Pilgrim’s Pride Co. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Pilgrim’s Pride Profile

Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. engages in the production, processing, marketing, and distribution of fresh, frozen and value-added chicken and pork products to retailers, distributors, and foodservice operators. It operates through the following segments: U.S., U.K. and Europe, and Mexico. The company was founded by Lonnie A.