Legal & General Group Plc Takes $1.81 Million Position in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation $PPC

Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 64,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,806,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 17,817 shares of the company’s stock worth $801,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the period. Commerce Bank raised its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 5,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 30.5% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,248 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 0.9% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 43,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,956,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 5.5% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 7,481 shares of the company’s stock valued at $336,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the period. 16.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on PPC shares. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. UBS Group dropped their target price on Pilgrim’s Pride from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Pilgrim’s Pride currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.50.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Performance

PPC opened at $30.48 on Monday. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation has a 12-month low of $25.90 and a 12-month high of $44.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.26 billion, a PE ratio of 13.25 and a beta of 0.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $29.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.98.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $4.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.70 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 21.70% and a net margin of 2.96%.Pilgrim’s Pride’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.70 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal 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.