Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Monday.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on PPC. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Santander initiated coverage on Pilgrim’s Pride in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pilgrim’s Pride presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.40.

Pilgrim’s Pride Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PPC opened at $46.77 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $51.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.10. The company has a market cap of $11.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.26 and a beta of 0.51. Pilgrim’s Pride has a 12-month low of $33.70 and a 12-month high of $57.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.05. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 32.83% and a net margin of 6.08%. The firm had revenue of $4.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.77 earnings per share. Pilgrim’s Pride’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Pilgrim’s Pride will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pilgrim’s Pride Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a special dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a dividend of $6.30 per share. This is an increase from Pilgrim’s Pride’s previous special dividend of $2.75. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd.

Institutional Trading of Pilgrim’s Pride

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,113,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $232,119,000 after acquiring an additional 33,965 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 44.1% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,883,708 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,502,000 after buying an additional 576,438 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 26.8% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,845,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,766,000 after buying an additional 389,967 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,377,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,513,000 after buying an additional 180,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,125,329 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,079,000 after acquiring an additional 119,555 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

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.