Short Interest in Pilgrim's Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) Drops By 18.0%

Pilgrim's Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,780,000 shares, a decrease of 18.0% from the March 15th total of 2,170,000 shares. Currently, 4.4% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 691,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Pilgrim's Pride news, CEO Fabio Sandri sold 40,000 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 257,065 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,565,405.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 82.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Pilgrim's Pride

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PPC. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Pilgrim's Pride by 284.6% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 50,290 shares of the company's stock worth $1,262,000 after purchasing an additional 37,215 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC bought a new position in Pilgrim's Pride in the first quarter worth about $441,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can bought a new position in Pilgrim's Pride in the first quarter worth about $551,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Pilgrim's Pride by 37.0% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 32,362 shares of the company's stock worth $812,000 after purchasing an additional 8,745 shares in the last quarter. 16.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Pilgrim's Pride Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of PPC traded down $0.86 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $35.14. 522,377 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 569,992. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $32.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.14. The firm has a market cap of $8.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.03, a PEG ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 0.82. Pilgrim's Pride has a 12-month low of $19.96 and a 12-month high of $36.15.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PPC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Pilgrim's Pride from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pilgrim's Pride from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Pilgrim's Pride from a "c+" rating to a "b+" rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Pilgrim's Pride from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Pilgrim's Pride from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pilgrim's Pride presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $32.00.

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.