3,000 Shares in Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) Purchased by Virtus Investment Advisers Inc.

Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $103,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bayesian Capital Management LP raised its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP now owns 11,382 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 11,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 2.2% during the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 13,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $471,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 30,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $849,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 1.3% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 35,230 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,209,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. 16.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on PPC. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Pilgrim’s Pride from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Bank of America boosted their price target on Pilgrim’s Pride from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Barclays increased their price target on Pilgrim’s Pride from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Argus upped their price objective on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.60.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Performance

Shares of PPC stock traded up $0.12 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $41.58. The stock had a trading volume of 315,313 shares, compared to its average volume of 646,502. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $37.35 and its 200 day moving average is $34.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.85 billion, a PE ratio of 20.24, a PEG ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.78. Pilgrim’s Pride Co. has a twelve month low of $22.33 and a twelve month high of $41.87.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.17. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 17.35% and a net margin of 2.80%. The firm had revenue of $4.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.08 earnings per share. Pilgrim’s Pride’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Pilgrim’s Pride Co. will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pilgrim’s Pride Profile

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.