Renaissance Technologies LLC Sells 463,700 Shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation $PPC

Renaissance Technologies LLC cut its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) by 33.8% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 907,024 shares of the company’s stock after selling 463,700 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride were worth $34,249,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 6.3% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 100,493 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,479,000 after buying an additional 5,950 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 136.5% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,000 after buying an additional 1,663 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 180.7% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 342,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,685,000 after acquiring an additional 220,673 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 15.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,243,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,758,000 after acquiring an additional 166,967 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 17,817 shares of the company’s stock worth $801,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Pilgrim’s Pride Price Performance

Shares of PPC stock opened at $29.81 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation has a 12-month low of $26.50 and a 12-month high of $50.56. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $28.54 and a 200-day moving average of $34.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.99 and a beta of 0.29.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.69 by ($0.18). The business had revenue of $4.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.43 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 28.57% and a net margin of 4.78%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current year.

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.