Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 217,278 Shares of Pilgrim's Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC)

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in Pilgrim's Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC - Free Report) by 5.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,143,471 shares of the company's stock after selling 217,278 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 1.75% of Pilgrim's Pride worth $94,595,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Pilgrim's Pride

In other news, CEO Fabio Sandri sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,565,405.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 82.70% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on PPC shares. 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. Barclays lifted their price target on Pilgrim's Pride from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com raised shares of Pilgrim's Pride from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. TheStreet raised shares of Pilgrim's Pride from a "c+" rating to a "b+" rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Pilgrim's Pride from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Pilgrim's Pride presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $32.00.

Pilgrim's Pride Stock Up 0.7 %

Pilgrim's Pride stock traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $35.08. The company had a trading volume of 466,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 705,111. The firm's fifty day moving average is $31.06 and its 200-day moving average is $27.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.85 and a beta of 0.82. Pilgrim's Pride Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.96 and a fifty-two week high of $35.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

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

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.