Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $3.88 Million Holdings in Pilgrim's Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Pilgrim's Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC - Free Report) by 22.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 71,129 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 12,840 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings in Pilgrim's Pride were worth $3,877,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in PPC. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Pilgrim's Pride by 102.0% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 16,381 shares of the company's stock valued at $744,000 after buying an additional 827,381 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 576,438 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 26.8% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its position in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 156.4% in the fourth quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 333,077 shares of the company's stock worth $15,118,000 after purchasing an additional 203,192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ruffer LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Pilgrim's Pride in the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,381,000. Institutional investors own 16.64% of the company's stock.

Pilgrim's Pride Trading Up 0.0%

NASDAQ:PPC traded up $0.01 on Friday, hitting $44.56. 2,073,286 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,239,817. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.79 and a beta of 0.48. Pilgrim's Pride Corporation has a 52 week low of $37.28 and a 52 week high of $57.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company's 50-day moving average price is $48.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.32.

Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.05. Pilgrim's Pride had a return on equity of 36.95% and a net margin of 6.72%. The business had revenue of $4.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.77 EPS. Pilgrim's Pride's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Pilgrim's Pride Corporation will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PPC. Santander initiated coverage on shares of Pilgrim's Pride in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. They issued a "neutral" rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Pilgrim's Pride in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Pilgrim's Pride from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 21st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pilgrim's Pride presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $48.67.

Pilgrim's Pride 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.