Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) PT Raised to $40.00 at Bank of America

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) had its target price increased by Bank of America from $36.00 to $40.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on PPC. TheStreet upgraded shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a c+ rating to a b+ rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $37.25.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Performance

Shares of PPC stock opened at $35.55 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $32.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.46. The company has a market cap of $8.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.33, a PEG ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.82. Pilgrim’s Pride has a 12 month low of $19.96 and a 12 month high of $36.15.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 26th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.16. Pilgrim’s Pride had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 12.90%. The company had revenue of $4.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.48 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.49) earnings per share. Pilgrim’s Pride’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Pilgrim’s Pride will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Pilgrim’s Pride

In other news, CEO Fabio Sandri sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.32, for a total transaction of $1,332,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 257,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,565,405.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 82.63% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pilgrim’s Pride

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,857,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,861,000 after acquiring an additional 250,383 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,464,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,067,000 after acquiring an additional 401,749 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,691,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,097,000 after acquiring an additional 72,446 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 31.4% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,050,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,510,000 after acquiring an additional 490,356 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,319,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,583,000 after acquiring an additional 20,853 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

About Pilgrim’s Pride

Pilgrim's Pride Corporation produces, processes, markets, and distributes fresh, frozen, and value-added chicken and pork products to retailers, distributors, and foodservice operators. The company offers fresh products, including refrigerated whole or cut-up chicken, selected chicken parts that are either marinated or non-marinated, primary pork cuts, added value pork, and pork ribs; and prepared products, which include fully cooked, ready-to-cook and individually frozen chicken parts, strips, nuggets and patties, processed sausages, bacon, smoked meat, gammon joints, pre-packed meats, sandwich and deli counter meats and meat balls.