Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Grows Position in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation $PPC

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) by 24.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 183,641 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,150 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride were worth $7,160,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PPC. AQR Capital Management LLC grew 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 period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Pilgrim’s Pride in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,501,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 138.7% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 958,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,022,000 after purchasing an additional 556,766 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 654.6% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 631,325 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,708,000 after purchasing an additional 547,663 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 10.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,672,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,993,000 after purchasing an additional 516,598 shares during the period. 16.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price target on the stock. Stephens set a $40.00 price target on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $45.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.20.

Pilgrim’s Pride Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of PPC stock opened at $29.74 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $7.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.97 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $27.13 and a fifty-two week high of $50.56. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $31.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.09.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by ($0.18). The firm had revenue of $4.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.43 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 28.57% and a net margin of 4.78%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation will post 3.52 EPS for the current year.

About Pilgrim’s Pride

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.