Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Given New $40.00 Price Target at Barclays

Key Points

• Barclays lowered Pilgrim’s Pride’s price target from $42 to $40 while maintaining an “overweight” rating, implying roughly 39.8% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly cautious: the stock has a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $34.67, with two Buy, five Hold, and one Sell rating.
• Pilgrim’s Pride shares rose 3.6% to $28.61, despite the company reporting quarterly EPS of $0.49, below the $0.56 consensus estimate; revenue of $4.65 billion slightly exceeded expectations.

Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC - Get Free Report) had its price target dropped by investment analysts at Barclays from $42.00 to $40.00 in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Barclays's target price would indicate a potential upside of 39.79% from the stock's previous close.

PPC has been the subject of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Pilgrim's Pride from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Pilgrim's Pride in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Bank of America reduced their price target 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $31.00 price objective on shares of Pilgrim's Pride in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $34.67.

Pilgrim's Pride Trading Up 3.6%

PPC stock traded up $1.00 during trading on Friday, reaching $28.61. 268,743 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,293,011. Pilgrim's Pride has a 52-week low of $25.00 and a 52-week high of $44.84. The business's 50 day moving average price is $29.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.81 billion, a PE ratio of 21.20 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $4.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.63 billion. Pilgrim's Pride had a return on equity of 14.87% and a net margin of 1.75%. The firm's revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Pilgrim's Pride will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pilgrim's Pride

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Pilgrim's Pride during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Pilgrim's Pride during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 205.4% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,014 shares of the company's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 682 shares during the period. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of Pilgrim's Pride during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new position in Pilgrim's Pride during the second quarter valued at approximately $70,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.64% of the company's stock.

About Pilgrim's Pride

Pilgrim's Pride Corporation is a food company that produces, processes and distributes poultry and prepared foods. Its product portfolio includes fresh, frozen and ready-to-eat chicken products, as well as foodservice, retail and convenience offerings sold under brands such as Pilgrim's, Just Bare, Gold'n Plump and Del Dia.

Founded in 1946, the company has grown from a regional poultry business into an international food producer. Pilgrim's Pride serves grocery retailers, restaurants, foodservice distributors and other commercial customers across the United States, Mexico and the United Kingdom and Europe.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.