Pilgrim's Pride Corporation $PPC Shares Acquired by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Pilgrim's Pride Corporation by 1.0%, owning approximately 2.9 million shares valued at $158.26 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Pilgrim's Pride reported impressive quarterly earnings with an EPS of $1.70, exceeding analysts' estimates of $1.54 and marking a 4.3% year-over-year revenue increase to $4.76 billion.
• The company has declared a $2.10 per share dividend to be paid on September 3rd, with a record date of August 20th.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Pilgrim's Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC - Free Report) by 1.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,903,586 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 29,549 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 1.22% of Pilgrim's Pride worth $158,261,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPC. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Pilgrim's Pride by 44.1% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,883,708 shares of the company's stock valued at $85,502,000 after purchasing an additional 576,438 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 26.8% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,845,480 shares of the company's stock worth $83,766,000 after purchasing an additional 389,967 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Pilgrim's Pride by 26.1% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,070,893 shares of the company's stock valued at $58,374,000 after buying an additional 221,617 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Pilgrim's Pride by 13.5% in the 1st quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 394,542 shares of the company's stock valued at $21,506,000 after buying an additional 47,045 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Pilgrim's Pride by 36.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 383,752 shares of the company's stock worth $17,419,000 after buying an additional 103,302 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 16.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PPC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Pilgrim's Pride in a report on Monday, June 23rd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen cut Pilgrim's Pride from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $49.00.

Pilgrim's Pride Price Performance

Shares of PPC stock traded down $0.6150 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $45.5450. The company had a trading volume of 148,771 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,306,582. Pilgrim's Pride Corporation has a 12-month low of $40.09 and a 12-month high of $57.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.63. The company has a market capitalization of $10.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.78 and a beta of 0.50. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $46.71 and a 200-day moving average of $49.42.

Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.62 billion. Pilgrim's Pride had a return on equity of 37.15% and a net margin of 6.81%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.67 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Pilgrim's Pride Corporation will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Pilgrim's Pride Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th.

About Pilgrim's Pride

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.