OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp Buys 7,400 Shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC)

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp raised its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) by 110.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 14,100 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,400 shares during the period. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp’s holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride were worth $640,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 345.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 76,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,516,000 after acquiring an additional 59,228 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 34.2% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,994 shares of the company’s stock worth $363,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in the fourth quarter worth about $1,210,000. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in the fourth quarter worth about $216,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 113,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,154,000 after buying an additional 9,035 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on PPC. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Pilgrim’s Pride from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Santander began coverage on Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.40.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Performance

NASDAQ PPC opened at $48.64 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.67 and a beta of 0.51. Pilgrim’s Pride Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.70 and a fifty-two week high of $57.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 2.01.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $4.53 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.77 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Pilgrim’s Pride Co. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Pilgrim’s Pride Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a special dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a dividend of $6.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Pilgrim’s Pride’s previous special dividend of $2.75.

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.