Short Interest in Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) Grows By 22.7%

Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) was the target of a large growth in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,410,000 shares, a growth of 22.7% from the August 15th total of 2,780,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 788,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.3 days. Approximately 8.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Transactions at Pilgrim’s Pride

In other news, CFO Matthew R. Galvanoni sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.31, for a total transaction of $281,515.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,750 shares in the company, valued at $2,241,292.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Fabio Sandri sold 65,000 shares of Pilgrim’s Pride stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.50, for a total value of $2,892,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 279,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,440,642.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Matthew R. Galvanoni sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.31, for a total value of $281,515.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,241,292.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 82.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp acquired a new position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in Pilgrim’s Pride in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride during the 1st quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 102.9% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 715 shares during the period. 16.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PPC. Argus raised their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Bank of America cut shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $47.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.80.

Pilgrim’s Pride Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ PPC traded up $0.70 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $41.75. 139,720 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 738,876. Pilgrim’s Pride has a fifty-two week low of $22.33 and a fifty-two week high of $47.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $9.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $42.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.05.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.62 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a net margin of 4.25% and a return on equity of 25.06%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.44 EPS. Analysts predict that Pilgrim’s Pride will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

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.