Vestcor Inc Raises Stock Position in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation $PPC

Vestcor Inc grew its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) by 86.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 77,818 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,068 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride were worth $3,169,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PPC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,672,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,993,000 after buying an additional 516,598 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 59.3% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,776,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,852,000 after acquiring an additional 1,405,251 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 18.8% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,676,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,965,000 after purchasing an additional 423,690 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 22.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,171,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,689,000 after purchasing an additional 404,915 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 21.5% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,584,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,282,000 after purchasing an additional 280,745 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on PPC shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen cut Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 15th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $49.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Zacks Research downgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Pilgrim’s Pride from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.33.

Pilgrim’s Pride Price Performance

PPC stock opened at $38.64 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation has a 12-month low of $35.73 and a 12-month high of $56.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $41.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.40. The company has a market cap of $9.18 billion, a PE ratio of 8.51 and a beta of 0.41.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.39 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 35.15% and a net margin of 5.85%.The business’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.35 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Pilgrim’s Pride

In other news, CFO Matthew R. Galvanoni sold 6,963 shares of Pilgrim’s Pride stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.52, for a total value of $303,029.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 91,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,977,597.44. The trade was a 7.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 82.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.