Bank of America Boosts Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Price Target to $40.00

Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC - Get Free Report) had its price objective upped by investment analysts at Bank of America from $36.00 to $40.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the stock. Bank of America's target price suggests a potential upside of 12.90% from the company's current price.

PPC has been the topic of several other research reports. TheStreet upgraded Pilgrim's Pride from a "c+" rating to a "b+" rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pilgrim's Pride from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Pilgrim's Pride from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Pilgrim's Pride from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Pilgrim's Pride from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $35.50.

Pilgrim's Pride Stock Performance

Shares of PPC stock traded up $0.29 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $35.43. The company had a trading volume of 658,972 shares, compared to its average volume of 690,777. The stock has a market cap of $8.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.21, a PEG ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $32.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.18. Pilgrim's Pride has a 52-week low of $19.96 and a 52-week high of $36.15.

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

Insider Transactions at Pilgrim's Pride

In other Pilgrim's Pride news, CEO Fabio Sandri sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 82.63% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pilgrim's Pride

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 3.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,857,532 shares of the company's stock valued at $157,861,000 after buying an additional 250,383 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in Pilgrim's Pride by 9.9% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,464,867 shares of the company's stock valued at $112,067,000 after acquiring an additional 401,749 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,691,177 shares of the company's stock valued at $102,097,000 after purchasing an additional 72,446 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 31.4% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,050,308 shares of the company's stock worth $48,510,000 after purchasing an additional 490,356 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 1.6% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,319,356 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,583,000 after purchasing an additional 20,853 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.