Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $45.50.

Several research analysts have commented on PPC shares. Stephens started coverage on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America lowered Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $47.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Argus lifted their price target on Pilgrim’s Pride from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Pilgrim’s Pride from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pilgrim’s Pride

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PPC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 3.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,233,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,310,000 after purchasing an additional 136,970 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 16.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $317,000 after acquiring an additional 1,270 shares in the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP now owns 11,382 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 102.9% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 715 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 746.4% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,752 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,545 shares during the period. 16.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pilgrim’s Pride Price Performance

NASDAQ PPC opened at $50.48 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.95. The business’s fifty day moving average is $47.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.64. Pilgrim’s Pride has a 1 year low of $25.23 and a 1 year high of $55.50.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.36. The business had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.69 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 29.92% and a net margin of 5.46%. Pilgrim’s Pride’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.58 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Pilgrim’s Pride will post 4.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.