Bank of America Boosts Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Price Target to $40.00

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) had its price objective lifted by Bank of America from $36.00 to $40.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on PPC. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com raised shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. TheStreet raised shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a c+ rating to a b+ rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $37.25.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ PPC opened at $35.28 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.41. Pilgrim’s Pride has a 52-week low of $19.96 and a 52-week high of $36.15. The firm has a market cap of $8.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $4.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.48 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 12.90%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.49) earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Pilgrim’s Pride will post 3.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Fabio Sandri sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.32, for a total value of $1,332,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 257,065 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,565,405.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 82.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Pilgrim’s Pride

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PPC. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 142.2% in the 3rd quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 108,982 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,488,000 after acquiring an additional 63,982 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in the 4th quarter worth $5,131,000. Trexquant Investment LP lifted its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 136.0% in the 3rd quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 128,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,944,000 after acquiring an additional 74,316 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 192.4% in the 3rd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 245,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,560,000 after acquiring an additional 161,623 shares during the period. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital lifted its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 28.7% in the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 18,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $522,000 after acquiring an additional 4,032 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

About Pilgrim’s Pride

Pilgrim's Pride Corporation produces, processes, markets, and distributes fresh, frozen, and value-added chicken and pork products to retailers, distributors, and foodservice operators. The company offers fresh products, including refrigerated whole or cut-up chicken, selected chicken parts that are either marinated or non-marinated, primary pork cuts, added value pork, and pork ribs; and prepared products, which include fully cooked, ready-to-cook and individually frozen chicken parts, strips, nuggets and patties, processed sausages, bacon, smoked meat, gammon joints, pre-packed meats, sandwich and deli counter meats and meat balls.