Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Sells 26,190 Shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation $PPC

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd cut its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) by 35.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,273 shares of the company’s stock after selling 26,190 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride were worth $1,785,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PPC. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in the first quarter valued at about $1,439,000. MQS Management LLC boosted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 37.8% during the first quarter. MQS Management LLC now owns 8,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 2,268 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 83.6% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 30,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,159,000 after purchasing an additional 13,980 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Pilgrim’s Pride in the 1st quarter worth about $468,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 32.5% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 147,091 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,777,000 after purchasing an additional 36,099 shares in the last quarter. 16.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Stephens set a $40.00 target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Bank of America reduced their target price on Pilgrim’s Pride from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Pilgrim’s Pride from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Pilgrim’s Pride from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.83.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Performance

Shares of PPC stock opened at $27.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.48. The firm has a market cap of $6.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.35 and a beta of 0.29. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation has a 52 week low of $26.50 and a 52 week high of $50.56. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.47.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by ($0.18). Pilgrim’s Pride had a net margin of 4.78% and a return on equity of 28.57%. The company had revenue of $4.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Pilgrim’s Pride Profile

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.