Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $28.49, but opened at $30.40. Pilgrim’s Pride shares last traded at $32.2680, with a volume of 547,371 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on PPC. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Pilgrim’s Pride from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 7th. Barclays upgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $45.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.50.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.07. The company has a market cap of $7.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.85 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 1.36.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last issued its 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 return on equity of 21.70% and a net margin of 2.96%.The firm had revenue of $4.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.70 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Pilgrim’s Pride

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,804,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $226,306,000 after buying an additional 131,482 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in the 2nd quarter valued at $138,936,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 18.7% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,482,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $182,512,000 after acquiring an additional 705,946 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,830,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,617,000 after purchasing an additional 411,656 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

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.