Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $36.50.

PPC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America cut their price objective on Pilgrim’s Pride from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Barclays raised shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pilgrim’s Pride

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,804,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $226,306,000 after purchasing an additional 131,482 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Pilgrim’s Pride in the second quarter worth approximately $138,936,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 18.7% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,482,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $182,512,000 after acquiring an additional 705,946 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 12.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,830,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,617,000 after acquiring an additional 411,656 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 22.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,171,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,689,000 after acquiring an additional 404,915 shares during the last quarter. 16.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ PPC opened at $31.79 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $7.57 billion, a PE ratio of 13.82 and a beta of 0.29. Pilgrim’s Pride has a 12-month low of $25.90 and a 12-month high of $46.20. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

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