Barings LLC Takes Position in Pilgrim's Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC)

Barings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pilgrim's Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 146,876 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,063,000. Barings LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Pilgrim's Pride as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Pilgrim's Pride by 592.8% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 970,653 shares of the company's stock valued at $22,160,000 after purchasing an additional 830,555 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Pilgrim's Pride in the 4th quarter valued at $5,131,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Pilgrim's Pride in the 3rd quarter valued at $4,109,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 192.4% in the 3rd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 245,611 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,560,000 after acquiring an additional 161,623 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP boosted its holdings in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 136.0% in the 3rd quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 128,942 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,944,000 after acquiring an additional 74,316 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 16.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on PPC shares. Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $38.00 price objective (up from $35.00) on shares of Pilgrim's Pride in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Pilgrim's Pride from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pilgrim's Pride from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. TheStreet upgraded shares of Pilgrim's Pride from a "c+" rating to a "b+" rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Pilgrim's Pride from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pilgrim's Pride currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $37.25.

Pilgrim's Pride Stock Performance

Shares of Pilgrim's Pride stock traded up $0.72 on Tuesday, reaching $38.50. 574,047 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 682,607. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.12 billion, a PE ratio of 18.69, a PEG ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 0.77. Pilgrim's Pride Co. has a 1-year low of $19.96 and a 1-year high of $38.58. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $35.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.12.

Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.17. Pilgrim's Pride had a net margin of 2.80% and a return on equity of 17.35%. The firm had revenue of $4.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.08 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Pilgrim's Pride Co. will post 3.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Pilgrim's Pride

In other Pilgrim's Pride news, CEO Fabio Sandri sold 40,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 257,065 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,565,405.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 82.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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