Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Should You Sell?

Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $26.85 and last traded at $26.5560, with a volume of 58492 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $27.32.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PPC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Pilgrim’s Pride from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Barclays raised Pilgrim’s Pride from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $45.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. Stephens set a $40.00 price target on Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on Pilgrim’s Pride in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.20.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Down 1.4%

The firm has a market capitalization of $6.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.22 and a beta of 0.28. The business has a 50 day moving average of $30.41 and a 200 day moving average of $36.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 28.57% and a net margin of 4.78%.The business had revenue of $4.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation will post 3.52 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Pilgrim’s Pride

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,804,210 shares of the company’s stock worth $226,306,000 after purchasing an additional 131,482 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 18.7% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,482,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $182,512,000 after purchasing an additional 705,946 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 12.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,830,054 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,617,000 after purchasing an additional 411,656 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 22.9% in the 2nd 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 period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,661,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,774,000 after purchasing an additional 108,949 shares during the period. 16.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.