Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Here’s Why

Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $34.39 and last traded at $35.22, with a volume of 733784 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $34.97.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on PPC shares. Zacks Research downgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Santander upgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $49.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.33.

Pilgrim’s Pride Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $8.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.76 and a beta of 0.41. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Pilgrim’s Pride news, CFO Matthew R. Galvanoni sold 6,963 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.52, for a total transaction of $303,029.76. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 91,397 shares in the company, valued at $3,977,597.44. This trade represents a 7.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 82.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pilgrim’s Pride

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Advisors Preferred LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,858,000. Barings LLC bought a new position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride during the third quarter worth approximately $1,335,000. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 163.4% in the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 117,781 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,796,000 after buying an additional 73,068 shares in the last quarter. Accredited Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 3,257.0% in the third quarter. Accredited Wealth Management LLC now owns 30,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after buying an additional 29,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 10.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,672,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,993,000 after buying an additional 516,598 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

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.