Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $36.8333.

PPC has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Pilgrim’s Pride from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Pilgrim’s Pride from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays raised Pilgrim’s Pride from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPC. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 6.3% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 100,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,479,000 after acquiring an additional 5,950 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 136.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,000 after buying an additional 1,663 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 180.7% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 342,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,685,000 after purchasing an additional 220,673 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 15.5% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,243,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,758,000 after acquiring an additional 166,967 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 1.3% during the second quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 17,817 shares of the company’s stock worth $801,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Performance

Shares of PPC opened at $28.76 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Pilgrim’s Pride has a 52-week low of $26.50 and a 52-week high of $50.56. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.82. The company has a market capitalization of $6.84 billion, a PE ratio of 7.71 and a beta of 0.29.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.69 by ($0.18). The firm had revenue of $4.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.43 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 28.57% and a net margin of 4.78%.Pilgrim’s Pride’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Pilgrim’s Pride will post 3.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.