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

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 6,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $314,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,903,586 shares of the company’s stock valued at $158,261,000 after acquiring an additional 29,549 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 25.9% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,370,927 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,599,000 after purchasing an additional 487,219 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 15.5% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,243,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,758,000 after purchasing an additional 166,967 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 26.1% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,070,893 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,374,000 after buying an additional 221,617 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 77.0% in the first quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 785,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,796,000 after buying an additional 341,517 shares during the last quarter. 16.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on PPC shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Pilgrim’s Pride from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pilgrim’s Pride presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

Pilgrim’s Pride Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PPC opened at $40.72 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $44.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.41. The company has a market cap of $9.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.85 and a beta of 0.45. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation has a 12-month low of $39.90 and a 12-month high of $57.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.62 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 37.15% and a net margin of 6.81%.Pilgrim’s Pride’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.67 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pilgrim’s Pride Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a special dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were given a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th.

About Pilgrim’s Pride

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.