Wedmont Private Capital Raises Stock Position in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation $PPC

Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) by 78.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,011 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,327 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride were worth $1,635,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 59.3% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,776,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,405,251 shares in the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,501,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 138.7% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 958,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,022,000 after buying an additional 556,766 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 654.6% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 631,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,708,000 after buying an additional 547,663 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,672,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $230,993,000 after buying an additional 516,598 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Pilgrim’s Pride news, CFO Matthew R. Galvanoni sold 6,963 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 91,397 shares in the company, valued at $3,977,597.44. The trade was a 7.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 82.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on PPC shares. Wall Street Zen cut Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Pilgrim’s Pride from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Santander upgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $49.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pilgrim’s Pride has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.33.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Performance

NASDAQ PPC opened at $35.23 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $41.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.76 and a beta of 0.41. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $34.96 and a fifty-two week high of $56.73.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last posted 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 analysts’ expectations of $4.39 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 35.15% and a net margin of 5.85%.The firm’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.35 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

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.