Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Stock Crosses Above Fifty Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC)’s share price crossed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $28.87 and traded as high as $29.13. Pilgrim’s Pride shares last traded at $29.01, with a volume of 1,134,951 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on PPC. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $31.00 price objective on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings lowered Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Pilgrim’s Pride from $42.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.67.

Pilgrim’s Pride Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $28.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.35. The firm has a market cap of $6.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.49 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.07). Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 1.75%. The firm had revenue of $4.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.63 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Pilgrim’s Pride

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PPC. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride in the second quarter worth $30,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 205.4% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 682 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming bought a new stake in Pilgrim’s Pride in the 2nd quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in the 2nd quarter valued at $70,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

About Pilgrim’s Pride

Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation is a food company that produces, processes and distributes poultry and prepared foods. Its product portfolio includes fresh, frozen and ready-to-eat chicken products, as well as foodservice, retail and convenience offerings sold under brands such as Pilgrim’s, Just Bare, Gold’n Plump and Del Dia.

Founded in 1946, the company has grown from a regional poultry business into an international food producer. Pilgrim’s Pride serves grocery retailers, restaurants, foodservice distributors and other commercial customers across the United States, Mexico and the United Kingdom and Europe.