Hennessy Advisors Inc. Sells 13,500 Shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation $PPC

Hennessy Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) by 7.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 170,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,500 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride were worth $6,922,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 0.4% during the second quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 49,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,216,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 15.7% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 224 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 1.3% in the second 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. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 18.2% during the 2nd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 1,566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the period. Finally, Comerica Bank boosted its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 12,359 shares of the company’s stock valued at $674,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of Pilgrim’s Pride stock opened at $38.99 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.26 billion, a PE ratio of 7.56 and a beta of 0.43. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation has a 52-week low of $35.73 and a 52-week high of $57.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.51.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a net margin of 6.70% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.63 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on PPC. Zacks Research upgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Pilgrim’s Pride from $49.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Monday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Finally, Santander raised shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Pilgrim’s Pride presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.33.

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.