CX Institutional Boosts Holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation $PPC

CX Institutional raised its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) by 33.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 127,307 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,580 shares during the period. CX Institutional’s holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride were worth $3,579,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,804,210 shares of the company’s stock worth $226,306,000 after purchasing an additional 131,482 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 18.7% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,482,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $182,512,000 after buying an additional 705,946 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,830,054 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,617,000 after buying an additional 411,656 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 22.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,171,836 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,689,000 after buying an additional 404,915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,661,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,774,000 after buying an additional 108,949 shares during the last quarter. 16.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Performance

Pilgrim’s Pride stock opened at $26.96 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $28.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.10. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation has a 52 week low of $26.50 and a 52 week high of $50.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.72 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.06). Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 21.70% and a net margin of 2.96%.The company had revenue of $4.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.70 earnings per share. Pilgrim’s Pride’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PPC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group began coverage on Pilgrim’s Pride in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Stephens set a $40.00 target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Barclays upgraded shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.83.

Pilgrim’s Pride Profile

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.