Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $44.3333.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Pilgrim’s Pride from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays cut their price objective on Pilgrim’s Pride from $49.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 15th. Finally, Santander upgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Matthew R. Galvanoni sold 6,963 shares of Pilgrim’s Pride stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.52, for a total transaction of $303,029.76. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 82.56% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pilgrim’s Pride

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPC. Advisors Preferred LLC bought a new stake in Pilgrim’s Pride during the third quarter valued at about $1,858,000. Barings LLC bought a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride in the third quarter worth about $1,335,000. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 163.4% during 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 during the last quarter. Accredited Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 3,257.0% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 10.0% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. 16.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Pilgrim’s Pride Price Performance

PPC stock opened at $35.23 on Friday. Pilgrim’s Pride has a 12 month low of $34.96 and a 12 month high of $56.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $41.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.01. The stock has a market cap of $8.37 billion, a PE ratio of 7.76 and a beta of 0.41.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last issued its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.39 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a net margin of 5.85% and a return on equity of 35.15%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.35 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Pilgrim’s Pride will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

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.