Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Hits New 1-Year High at $35.44

Pilgrim's Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC - Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $35.44 and last traded at $35.38, with a volume of 114197 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.08.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PPC has been the topic of several research reports. TheStreet raised Pilgrim's Pride from a "c+" rating to a "b+" rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Barclays increased their price target on Pilgrim's Pride from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com raised Pilgrim's Pride from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Pilgrim's Pride from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Pilgrim's Pride from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Pilgrim's Pride currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $32.00.

Pilgrim's Pride Stock Up 0.5 %

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.74. The company has a market capitalization of $8.35 billion, a PE ratio of 26.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $4.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.48 billion. Pilgrim's Pride had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 1.85%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.49) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Pilgrim's Pride Co. will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pilgrim's Pride

In other Pilgrim's Pride news, CEO Fabio Sandri sold 40,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.32, for a total transaction of $1,332,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 257,065 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,565,405.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 80.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its stake in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 18,691 shares of the company's stock worth $517,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 30,697 shares of the company's stock worth $849,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 30.1% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,054 shares of the company's stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 1.9% in the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 26,168 shares of the company's stock worth $657,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 63.5% in the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,305 shares of the company's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.64% of the company's stock.

Pilgrim's Pride Company Profile

Pilgrim's Pride Corporation produces, processes, markets, and distributes fresh, frozen, and value-added chicken and pork products to retailers, distributors, and foodservice operators. The company offers fresh products, including refrigerated whole or cut-up chicken, selected chicken parts that are either marinated or non-marinated, primary pork cuts, added value pork, and pork ribs; and prepared products, which include fully cooked, ready-to-cook and individually frozen chicken parts, strips, nuggets and patties, processed sausages, bacon, smoked meat, gammon joints, pre-packed meats, sandwich and deli counter meats and meat balls.