Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Raised to "Strong-Buy" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Pilgrim's Pride has been upgraded from a "buy" to a "strong-buy" rating by Wall Street Zen, indicating increased confidence in the stock's performance.
• Goldman Sachs has initiated coverage of Pilgrim's Pride with a "neutral" rating and a target price of $50.00, amid a current average rating of "Hold" from five analysts.
• The company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings with $1.70 EPS, surpassing the estimate of $1.54, and recorded a revenue of $4.76 billion, exceeding analyst expectations.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC - Free Report) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Friday morning.

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Pilgrim's Pride in a report on Monday, June 23rd. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $47.50.

Pilgrim's Pride Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PPC traded up $0.76 during trading on Friday, reaching $44.06. The company had a trading volume of 1,930,840 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,341,483. Pilgrim's Pride has a twelve month low of $40.09 and a twelve month high of $57.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.47 billion, a PE ratio of 8.49 and a beta of 0.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $46.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.16. Pilgrim's Pride had a return on equity of 37.15% and a net margin of 6.81%.The company had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.67 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Pilgrim's Pride will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Pilgrim's Pride Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a special dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were given a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PPC. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Pilgrim's Pride by 59.3% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,776,178 shares of the company's stock valued at $169,852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,405,251 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Pilgrim's Pride by 102.0% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 16,381 shares of the company's stock valued at $744,000 after purchasing an additional 827,381 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Pilgrim's Pride by 48.6% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,459,203 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,635,000 after purchasing an additional 477,216 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Pilgrim's Pride in the second quarter valued at about $18,231,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Pilgrim's Pride by 22.9% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,171,836 shares of the company's stock valued at $97,689,000 after purchasing an additional 404,915 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.64% of the company's stock.

Pilgrim's Pride Company Profile

Pilgrim's Pride Corp. engages in the production, processing, marketing, and distribution of fresh, frozen and value-added chicken and pork products to retailers, distributors, and foodservice operators. It operates through the following segments: U.S., U.K. and Europe, and Mexico. The company was founded by Lonnie A.