Sovereign s Capital Management LLC Purchases New Position in Pilgrim's Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC)

Sovereign s Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pilgrim's Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 18,687 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $848,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC increased its position in Pilgrim's Pride by 345.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 76,364 shares of the company's stock worth $3,516,000 after buying an additional 59,228 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Pilgrim's Pride by 34.2% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,994 shares of the company's stock worth $363,000 after buying an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in Pilgrim's Pride in the fourth quarter worth about $1,210,000. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Pilgrim's Pride in the fourth quarter worth about $216,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in Pilgrim's Pride by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 113,549 shares of the company's stock worth $5,154,000 after buying an additional 9,035 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 16.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on PPC. Santander began coverage on Pilgrim's Pride in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. They issued a "neutral" rating for the company. Wall Street Zen cut Pilgrim's Pride from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Pilgrim's Pride from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Pilgrim's Pride presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $48.40.

Pilgrim's Pride Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PPC traded down $1.72 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $49.19. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,103,122 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,190,051. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.66 billion, a PE ratio of 10.79 and a beta of 0.51. 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 has a fifty day moving average of $50.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.17. Pilgrim's Pride Co. has a 52 week low of $33.70 and a 52 week high of $57.16.

Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $4.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.77 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a dividend of $6.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Pilgrim's Pride's previous special dividend of $2.75.

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.