Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Now Covered by Argus

Investment analysts at Argus began coverage on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) in a report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $41.00 price target on the stock. Argus’ price target indicates a potential upside of 18.09% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on PPC. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $38.00 target price (up from $35.00) on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Pilgrim’s Pride from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “c+” rating to a “b+” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.00.

Pilgrim’s Pride Price Performance

Pilgrim’s Pride stock opened at $34.72 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Pilgrim’s Pride has a one year low of $19.96 and a one year high of $39.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $35.97 and its 200 day moving average is $31.79. The firm has a market cap of $8.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 0.76.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $4.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.45 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 17.35% and a net margin of 2.80%. The company’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Pilgrim’s Pride will post 3.77 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp purchased a new position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Pilgrim’s Pride in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in the first quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Clear Street Markets LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in the third quarter worth $50,000. Institutional investors own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

About Pilgrim’s Pride

Pilgrim's Pride Corporation produces, processes, markets, and distributes fresh, frozen, and value-added chicken and pork products to retailers, distributors, and foodservice operators. The company offers fresh products, including refrigerated whole or cut-up chicken, selected chicken parts that are either marinated or non-marinated, primary pork cuts, added value pork, and pork ribs; and prepared products, which include fully cooked, ready-to-cook and individually frozen chicken parts, strips, nuggets and patties, processed sausages, bacon, smoked meat, gammon joints, pre-packed meats, sandwich and deli counter meats and meat balls.