Wall Street Zen Downgrades Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) to Buy

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Friday.

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Pilgrim’s Pride has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.67.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PPC opened at $44.94 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.86 and a beta of 0.45. Pilgrim’s Pride has a 12 month low of $39.00 and a 12 month high of $57.16. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $46.62 and its 200 day moving average is $49.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $4.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a net margin of 6.72% and a return on equity of 36.95%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.77 EPS. Research analysts predict that Pilgrim’s Pride will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPC. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in the fourth quarter valued at about $626,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,664,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 93,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,235,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 125.9% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 11,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $521,000 after acquiring an additional 6,396 shares during the period. Finally, Xponance Inc. increased its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 6,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $286,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

About Pilgrim’s Pride

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.