183,500 Shares in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation $PPC Bought by Hennessy Advisors Inc.

Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 183,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,254,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride in the second quarter worth $331,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Pilgrim’s Pride during the second quarter valued at about $45,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 679.5% during the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 25,809 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,161,000 after buying an additional 22,498 shares during the period. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Pilgrim’s Pride during the second quarter valued at about $314,000. Finally, Kendall Capital Management boosted its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 10.7% during the second quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 6,120 shares of the company’s stock valued at $275,000 after buying an additional 590 shares during the period. 16.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on PPC. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

Pilgrim’s Pride Price Performance

PPC stock opened at $40.72 on Friday. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation has a 1 year low of $39.90 and a 1 year high of $57.16. The company has a market cap of $9.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.85 and a beta of 0.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $44.96 and a 200 day moving average of $47.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.16. Pilgrim’s Pride had a net margin of 6.81% and a return on equity of 37.15%. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.67 earnings per share. Pilgrim’s Pride’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

Pilgrim’s Pride Announces Dividend

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

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.