Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the eight analysts that are covering the stock, 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 twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $36.50.

A number of research firms have recently commented on PPC. UBS Group lowered their target price on 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. Barclays raised shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 2nd.

Institutional Trading of Pilgrim’s Pride

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 100,493 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,479,000 after acquiring an additional 5,950 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 136.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,663 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 180.7% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 342,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,685,000 after acquiring an additional 220,673 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 15.5% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,243,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,758,000 after buying an additional 166,967 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 1.3% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

Pilgrim’s Pride Trading Up 3.1%

Shares of Pilgrim’s Pride stock opened at $28.77 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.51 and a beta of 0.29. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $28.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.17. 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 has a twelve month low of $25.90 and a twelve month high of $48.48.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.06). Pilgrim’s Pride had a net margin of 2.96% and a return on equity of 21.70%. The firm had revenue of $4.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.70 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Pilgrim’s Pride will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pilgrim’s Pride Company 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.