The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Price Target to $36.00

Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC - Free Report) had its price target upped by The Goldman Sachs Group from $32.00 to $36.00 in a research report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on PPC. TheStreet upgraded Pilgrim's Pride from a c+ rating to a b+ rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective 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. StockNews.com upgraded Pilgrim's Pride from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Pilgrim's Pride from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays reiterated an equal weight rating and set a $38.00 price objective (up from $35.00) on shares of Pilgrim's Pride in a research report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Pilgrim's Pride presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $37.25.

Pilgrim's Pride Price Performance

NASDAQ:PPC traded down $0.29 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $35.28. 598,326 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 687,722. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $32.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.41. Pilgrim's Pride has a 52 week low of $19.96 and a 52 week high of $36.15. The firm has a market cap of $8.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.82.

Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 26th. The company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 1.85%. The company's revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.49) EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Pilgrim's Pride will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pilgrim's Pride news, CEO Fabio Sandri sold 40,000 shares of Pilgrim's Pride stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.32, for a total value of $1,332,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 through the SEC website. Insiders own 82.63% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its position in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 18,691 shares of the company's stock worth $517,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 1.4% in the 4th 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. raised its position in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 30.1% in the 1st 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 raised its position in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 1.9% in the 1st 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. raised its position in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 63.5% in the 4th 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 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.