Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Price Target Raised to $42.00

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) had its price objective lifted by research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $40.00 to $42.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “market perform” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 0.84% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also commented on PPC. Barclays lowered their price target on Pilgrim’s Pride from $49.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research downgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Santander raised shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pilgrim’s Pride has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.33.

Pilgrim’s Pride Trading Down 3.6%

Shares of PPC stock opened at $41.65 on Friday. Pilgrim’s Pride has a 1-year low of $35.73 and a 1-year high of $57.16. The firm has a market cap of $9.89 billion, a PE ratio of 9.17 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.39 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a net margin of 5.85% and a return on equity of 35.68%. Pilgrim’s Pride’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.35 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Pilgrim’s Pride will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 2.3% during 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 lifted its stake 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 worth $182,512,000 after purchasing an additional 705,946 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted 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 valued at $133,296,000 after purchasing an additional 742,204 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 22.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 404,915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 21.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,584,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,282,000 after purchasing an additional 280,745 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.