SG Americas Securities LLC Buys Shares of 30,826 Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation $PPC

SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 30,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 1.3% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Kendall Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 4.3% in the third quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 6,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after buying an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 3.5% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 9,824 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,000 after buying an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 0.9% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 43,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,956,000 after buying an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 4.7% in the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 8,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,000 after buying an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. 16.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pilgrim’s Pride

In other news, CFO Matthew R. Galvanoni sold 6,963 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.52, for a total value of $303,029.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 91,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,977,597.44. The trade was a 7.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 82.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PPC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price target 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. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research note on Monday, December 29th. 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.67.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Performance

NASDAQ PPC opened at $35.60 on Wednesday. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $34.39 and a fifty-two week high of $55.18. The stock has a market cap of $8.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.84 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a fifty day moving average of $40.01 and a 200-day moving average of $39.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

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

Pilgrim’s Pride Profile

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.