Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Sets New 1-Year Low – What’s Next?

Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) shares hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $30.21 and last traded at $31.1220, with a volume of 239448 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $30.59.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research lowered Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Stephens set a $40.00 price objective on Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Pilgrim’s Pride from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Barclays upgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Pilgrim’s Pride presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.25.

Pilgrim’s Pride Trading Up 2.3%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.48. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.69. The stock has a market cap of $7.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.38 and a beta of 0.33.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by ($0.18). Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 28.57% and a net margin of 4.78%.The firm had revenue of $4.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.43 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.31 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation will post 3.87 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pilgrim’s Pride news, CFO Matthew R. Galvanoni sold 6,963 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.52, for a total transaction of $303,029.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 91,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,977,597.44. This represents a 7.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 82.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pilgrim’s Pride

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 17,817 shares of the company’s stock valued at $801,000 after buying an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Commerce Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 5,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 23.5% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,350 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Kendall Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 6,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,939 shares of the company’s stock valued at $232,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

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.