Van ECK Associates Corp Increases Position in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation $PPC

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) by 724.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,365,157 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,199,625 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride were worth $38,375,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PPC. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Pilgrim’s Pride during the second quarter valued at about $138,936,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised 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 worth $169,852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,405,251 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 1,196.4% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 813,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,731,000 after purchasing an additional 751,042 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 27.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,418,398 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,296,000 after purchasing an additional 742,204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride during the third quarter valued at about $26,501,000. 16.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pilgrim’s Pride Price Performance

Shares of PPC stock opened at $31.69 on Monday. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation has a 1-year low of $25.90 and a 1-year high of $45.44. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $28.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a market cap of $7.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.78 and a beta of 0.29.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.06). Pilgrim’s Pride had a net margin of 2.96% and a return on equity of 21.70%. The business had revenue of $4.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.70 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.50.

Pilgrim’s Pride 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.