Redwood Investment Management LLC Sells 69,868 Shares of Pilgrim's Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC)

Redwood Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in Pilgrim's Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC - Free Report) by 64.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 38,965 shares of the company's stock after selling 69,868 shares during the quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC's holdings in Pilgrim's Pride were worth $1,769,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PPC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,113,888 shares of the company's stock valued at $232,119,000 after buying an additional 33,965 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 44.1% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,883,708 shares of the company's stock valued at $85,502,000 after purchasing an additional 576,438 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pilgrim's Pride by 26.8% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,845,480 shares of the company's stock valued at $83,766,000 after buying an additional 389,967 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Pilgrim's Pride by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,377,236 shares of the company's stock worth $62,513,000 after buying an additional 180,164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Pilgrim's Pride by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,125,329 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,079,000 after buying an additional 119,555 shares during the last quarter. 16.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PPC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Santander assumed coverage on shares of Pilgrim's Pride in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. They issued a "neutral" rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Pilgrim's Pride from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Pilgrim's Pride from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Pilgrim's Pride currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $48.40.

Pilgrim's Pride Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PPC traded down $0.30 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $50.91. The company had a trading volume of 391,855 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,184,096. Pilgrim's Pride Co. has a one year low of $33.70 and a one year high of $57.16. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The company's 50-day moving average price is $50.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.17. The firm has a market cap of $12.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 0.51.

Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $4.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. Pilgrim's Pride had a return on equity of 32.83% and a net margin of 6.08%. The business's revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Pilgrim's Pride Co. will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pilgrim's Pride Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a special dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a dividend of $6.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Pilgrim's Pride's previous special dividend of $2.75.

Pilgrim's Pride 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.