Pilgrim’s Pride’s (PPC) “Equal Weight” Rating Reiterated at Barclays

Barclays restated their equal weight rating on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has a $38.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $35.00.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on PPC. StockNews.com upgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Pilgrim’s Pride from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Bank of America increased their price target on Pilgrim’s Pride from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday. TheStreet raised Pilgrim’s Pride from a c+ rating to a b+ rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Pilgrim’s Pride from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $37.25.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Up 0.8 %

PPC opened at $35.55 on Tuesday. Pilgrim’s Pride has a 12 month low of $19.96 and a 12 month high of $36.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market cap of $8.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $32.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.46.

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

Insider Transactions at Pilgrim’s Pride

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

Institutional Trading of Pilgrim’s Pride

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 3.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,857,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $157,861,000 after buying an additional 250,383 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 9.9% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,464,867 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,067,000 after buying an additional 401,749 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,691,177 shares of the company’s stock worth $102,097,000 after buying an additional 72,446 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 31.4% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,050,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,510,000 after acquiring an additional 490,356 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 1.6% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,319,356 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,583,000 after acquiring an additional 20,853 shares in the last quarter. 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.