Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Sets New 12-Month High at $45.09

Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $45.09 and last traded at $44.94, with a volume of 273244 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $43.31.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on PPC. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Pilgrim’s Pride from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Pilgrim’s Pride from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Pilgrim’s Pride from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Pilgrim’s Pride from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.40.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.02, a PEG ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.78.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.35. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 25.06% and a net margin of 4.25%. The business had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.44 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Pilgrim’s Pride Co. will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Pilgrim’s Pride news, CFO Matthew R. Galvanoni sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.31, for a total transaction of $281,515.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,241,292.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 82.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pilgrim’s Pride

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPC. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 2,666.0% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 44,865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,241,000 after purchasing an additional 43,243 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Pilgrim’s Pride in the 1st quarter worth about $904,000. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL bought a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride in the 4th quarter worth about $1,004,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp grew its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 173.9% in the 1st quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 45,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,554,000 after acquiring an additional 28,749 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S bought a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride in the 4th quarter worth about $781,000. 16.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pilgrim’s Pride Company 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.