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

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.50.

Pilgrim’s Pride Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PPC opened at $43.63 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $10.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.41 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.60. Pilgrim’s Pride has a one year low of $40.09 and a one year high of $57.16.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.16. Pilgrim’s Pride had a net margin of 6.81% and a return on equity of 37.15%. The firm had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.67 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Pilgrim’s Pride will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PPC. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 0.4% during the second quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 49,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,216,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 15.7% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 1.3% during the second quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 17,817 shares of the company’s stock valued at $801,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 18.2% during the second quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 1,566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 0.3% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 93,044 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,072,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. 16.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Pilgrim’s Pride Company 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.