Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Sets New 1-Year High at $37.50

Pilgrim's Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $37.50 and last traded at $37.59, with a volume of 98969 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $37.11.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Pilgrim's Pride from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Pilgrim's Pride from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Pilgrim's Pride from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Pilgrim's Pride from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $38.00 price target (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Pilgrim's Pride in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $37.25.

Pilgrim's Pride Price Performance

The stock's 50-day moving average is $34.60 and its 200-day moving average is $29.69. The firm has a market cap of $8.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.17. Pilgrim's Pride had a net margin of 2.80% and a return on equity of 17.35%. The business had revenue of $4.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.08 earnings per share. Pilgrim's Pride's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Pilgrim's Pride Co. will post 3.51 EPS for the current fiscal 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 on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.32, for a total value of $1,332,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 257,065 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,565,405.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 82.63% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PPC. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in Pilgrim's Pride by 41.3% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 10,191 shares of the company's stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 2,977 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 1.1% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 104,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,374,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Pilgrim's Pride by 592.8% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 970,653 shares of the company's stock worth $22,160,000 after buying an additional 830,555 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Pilgrim's Pride by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 300,480 shares of the company's stock worth $6,860,000 after acquiring an additional 2,966 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 0.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 593,432 shares of the company's stock worth $13,548,000 after acquiring an additional 3,281 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 16.64% of the company's stock.

About Pilgrim's Pride

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.