Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Sunday.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on PPC. Santander raised shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Zacks Research cut shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $49.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Pilgrim’s Pride from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.33.

Pilgrim’s Pride Trading Up 4.0%

Pilgrim’s Pride stock opened at $43.32 on Friday. Pilgrim’s Pride has a 12 month low of $35.73 and a 12 month high of $57.16. The company has a market capitalization of $10.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.54 and a beta of 0.43. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.39 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 35.15% and a net margin of 5.85%.Pilgrim’s Pride’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.35 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Pilgrim’s Pride will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pilgrim’s Pride

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PPC. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 59.3% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,776,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,852,000 after acquiring an additional 1,405,251 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 27.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,418,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,296,000 after purchasing an additional 742,204 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,501,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 138.7% during the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 958,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,022,000 after purchasing an additional 556,766 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 654.6% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 631,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,708,000 after purchasing an additional 547,663 shares during the period. 16.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.