Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Takes Position in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation $PPC

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 19,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $814,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 59.3% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,776,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,852,000 after acquiring an additional 1,405,251 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,672,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,993,000 after purchasing an additional 516,598 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 48.6% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,459,203 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,635,000 after purchasing an additional 477,216 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Pilgrim’s Pride in the second quarter worth about $18,231,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 22.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,171,836 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,689,000 after buying an additional 404,915 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PPC. Zacks Research lowered Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Barclays reduced their target price on Pilgrim’s Pride from $49.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Santander upgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, February 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.33.

Pilgrim’s Pride Price Performance

NASDAQ PPC opened at $41.74 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation has a 12-month low of $35.73 and a 12-month high of $56.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.19 and a beta of 0.43.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.14). Pilgrim’s Pride had a net margin of 5.85% and a return on equity of 35.15%. The business had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.35 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Pilgrim’s Pride

Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation is a leading poultry producer in the United States and Mexico and a wholly owned subsidiary of JBS SA Headquartered in Greeley, Colorado, and Pittsburg, Texas, the company specializes in the production, processing and distribution of fresh, frozen and value-added chicken products. Pilgrim’s Pride serves a diverse customer base that includes retail grocery chains, foodservice distributors and restaurant operators across North America and in select international markets.

The company’s vertically integrated operations encompass breeding, hatching, feed milling, processing plants and cold storage facilities.