Barclays PLC Decreases Stock Position in Pilgrim's Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC)

Barclays PLC reduced its stake in shares of Pilgrim's Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC - Free Report) by 49.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,581 shares of the company's stock after selling 37,783 shares during the period. Barclays PLC's holdings in Pilgrim's Pride were worth $1,750,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Pilgrim's Pride by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,113,888 shares of the company's stock valued at $232,119,000 after purchasing an additional 33,965 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Pilgrim's Pride by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,377,236 shares of the company's stock valued at $62,513,000 after buying an additional 180,164 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,125,329 shares of the company's stock worth $51,079,000 after acquiring an additional 119,555 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Pilgrim's Pride by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 897,805 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,761,000 after purchasing an additional 15,905 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Pilgrim's Pride by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 849,276 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,549,000 after acquiring an additional 21,575 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.64% of the company's stock.

Pilgrim's Pride Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of Pilgrim's Pride stock opened at $46.14 on Friday. Pilgrim's Pride Co. has a 1-year low of $33.70 and a 1-year high of $57.16. The stock has a market cap of $10.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.12 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.31. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $52.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.08.

Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.05. Pilgrim's Pride had a return on equity of 32.83% and a net margin of 6.08%. The business had revenue of $4.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.77 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Pilgrim's Pride Co. will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pilgrim's Pride Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a special dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a $6.30 dividend. This is a boost from Pilgrim's Pride's previous special dividend of $2.75. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Pilgrim's Pride from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Santander started coverage on Pilgrim's Pride in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com cut Pilgrim's Pride from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Sunday, March 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Pilgrim's Pride has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $48.40.

Pilgrim's Pride Company Profile

Pilgrim's Pride Corp. engages in the production, processing, marketing, and distribution of fresh, frozen and value-added chicken and pork products to retailers, distributors, and foodservice operators. It operates through the following segments: U.S., U.K. and Europe, and Mexico. The company was founded by Lonnie A.

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