Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.17 EPS

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.17, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $4.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.45 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a net margin of 2.80% and a return on equity of 17.35%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.08 EPS.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ PPC traded up $0.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $36.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 910,096 shares, compared to its average volume of 599,614. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.40. Pilgrim’s Pride has a twelve month low of $19.96 and a twelve month high of $36.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.61, a PEG ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.77.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on PPC. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $38.00 price objective (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. TheStreet raised shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “c+” rating to a “b+” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.25.

Insider Activity at Pilgrim’s Pride

In other Pilgrim’s Pride 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 through this hyperlink. 82.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.