Bridgefront Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Pilgrim's Pride Corporation $PPC

Key Points

• Bridgefront Capital LLC bought a new stake of 28,525 shares in Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) in Q3 worth about $1.16M, while other institutions including Vanguard, AQR and Two Sigma materially increased positions, leaving institutional ownership at about 16.64%.
• The analyst consensus is Hold with an average target price of $44.33 (1 Buy, 4 Hold, 1 Sell); recent analyst actions were mixed, including Zacks downgrading to "strong sell" and Santander raising to "outperform."
• CFO Matthew Galvanoni sold 6,963 shares at $43.52 (reducing his stake ~7.08%), and Pilgrim's Pride recently missed quarterly EPS ($0.64 vs. $0.78) while beating revenue ($4.52B); the stock trades at a PE of ~7.98 with a market cap near $8.6B.

Bridgefront Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pilgrim's Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 28,525 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,162,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 59.3% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,776,178 shares of the company's stock worth $169,852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,405,251 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its holdings in Pilgrim's Pride by 654.6% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 631,325 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,708,000 after purchasing an additional 547,663 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Pilgrim's Pride by 10.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,672,728 shares of the company's stock valued at $230,993,000 after buying an additional 516,598 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Pilgrim's Pride by 48.6% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,459,203 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,635,000 after buying an additional 477,216 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Pilgrim's Pride by 18.8% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,676,194 shares of the company's stock worth $108,965,000 after buying an additional 423,690 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Pilgrim's Pride in a report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research lowered Pilgrim's Pride from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Pilgrim's Pride from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Pilgrim's Pride from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, February 15th. Finally, Santander raised Pilgrim's Pride from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pilgrim's Pride has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $44.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Matthew R. Galvanoni sold 6,963 shares of Pilgrim's Pride stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.52, for a total value of $303,029.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 91,397 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,977,597.44. This trade represents a 7.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 82.56% of the company's stock.

Pilgrim's Pride Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ PPC opened at $36.22 on Friday. Pilgrim's Pride Corporation has a 1-year low of $35.73 and a 1-year high of $56.73. The company has a 50-day moving average of $41.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.26. The company has a market cap of $8.60 billion, a PE ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.14). Pilgrim's Pride had a net margin of 5.85% and a return on equity of 35.15%. The company had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.39 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.35 earnings per share. Pilgrim's Pride's revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Pilgrim's Pride Corporation will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

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