Pilgrim's Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) Given Average Rating of "Hold" by Analysts

Pilgrim's Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the eight analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $36.8333.

PPC has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group began coverage on Pilgrim's Pride in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $30.00 price target on the stock. Barclays raised shares of Pilgrim's Pride from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Pilgrim's Pride from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Stephens set a $40.00 target price on shares of Pilgrim's Pride in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Pilgrim's Pride from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pilgrim's Pride

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Torren Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pilgrim's Pride during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. MCF Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pilgrim's Pride in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. bought a new position in Pilgrim's Pride during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in Pilgrim's Pride by 205.4% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,014 shares of the company's stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 682 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP raised its stake in Pilgrim's Pride by 30.5% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,248 shares of the company's stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.64% of the company's stock.

Pilgrim's Pride Stock Performance

PPC opened at $27.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.48. The company has a market cap of $6.64 billion, a PE ratio of 7.49 and a beta of 0.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $28.47 and a 200-day moving average of $34.69. Pilgrim's Pride has a 52-week low of $26.50 and a 52-week high of $50.56.

Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.69 by ($0.18). Pilgrim's Pride had a net margin of 4.78% and a return on equity of 28.57%. The company had revenue of $4.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.31 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Pilgrim's Pride will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pilgrim's Pride Company Profile

Pilgrim's Pride Corporation is a leading poultry producer in the United States and Mexico and a wholly owned subsidiary of JBS SA Headquartered in Greeley, Colorado, and Pittsburg, Texas, the company specializes in the production, processing and distribution of fresh, frozen and value-added chicken products. Pilgrim's Pride serves a diverse customer base that includes retail grocery chains, foodservice distributors and restaurant operators across North America and in select international markets.

The company's vertically integrated operations encompass breeding, hatching, feed milling, processing plants and cold storage facilities.

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