Bank of America Lowers Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Price Target to $30.00

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) had its price objective cut by equities research analysts at Bank of America from $37.00 to $30.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Bank of America‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 5.09% from the company’s previous close.

PPC has been the subject of a number of other reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Stephens set a $40.00 target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Barclays raised shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.83.

Pilgrim’s Pride Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PPC traded down $0.00 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $28.55. 288,541 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,188,186. The company’s 50-day moving average is $29.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of $6.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.66 and a beta of 0.28. Pilgrim’s Pride has a 1 year low of $26.50 and a 1 year high of $50.56.

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

Institutional Trading of Pilgrim’s Pride

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,804,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $226,306,000 after purchasing an additional 131,482 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $182,512,000 after buying an additional 705,946 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $144,617,000 after buying an additional 411,656 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 22.9% during 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 buying an additional 404,915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,661,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,774,000 after buying an additional 108,949 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

Pilgrim’s Pride Company Profile

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.