Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Receives Equal Weight Rating from Barclays

Barclays reiterated their equal weight rating on shares of Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC - Free Report) in a report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has a $38.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $35.00.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on PPC. BMO Capital Markets increased 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 report on Tuesday, February 27th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Pilgrim's Pride from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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 report on Tuesday, February 27th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Pilgrim's Pride from a c+ rating to a b+ rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pilgrim's Pride from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pilgrim's Pride presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $36.25.

Pilgrim's Pride Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PPC traded up $0.14 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $35.57. The stock had a trading volume of 557,237 shares, compared to its average volume of 688,947. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.68. The company has a market cap of $8.43 billion, a PE ratio of 26.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.42 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. The company's 50 day moving average is $32.34 and its 200-day moving average is $28.36.

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

Insider Transactions at Pilgrim's Pride

In related 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,565,405.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 82.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PPC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Pilgrim's Pride by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,857,532 shares of the company's stock worth $157,861,000 after purchasing an additional 250,383 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in Pilgrim's Pride by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,464,867 shares of the company's stock worth $112,067,000 after purchasing an additional 401,749 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Pilgrim's Pride by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,691,177 shares of the company's stock worth $102,097,000 after purchasing an additional 72,446 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Pilgrim's Pride by 31.4% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,319,356 shares of the company's stock worth $30,583,000 after acquiring an additional 20,853 shares during the period. 16.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.