Moors & Cabot Inc. Reduces Holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC)

Moors & Cabot Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) by 28.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,100 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,450 shares during the quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride were worth $427,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PPC. Jones Financial Companies Lllp purchased a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in the first quarter worth about $38,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 102.9% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 715 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Pilgrim’s Pride in the second quarter valued at approximately $62,000. 16.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PPC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Argus raised their price target on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Bank of America downgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $47.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Pilgrim’s Pride from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.80.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Up 2.6 %

PPC stock opened at $43.25 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $42.74 and its 200 day moving average is $38.14. The firm has a market cap of $10.25 billion, a PE ratio of 21.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 0.82. Pilgrim’s Pride Co. has a one year low of $22.33 and a one year high of $47.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.82.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.35. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 25.06% and a net margin of 4.25%. The business had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.44 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Pilgrim’s Pride Co. will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Fabio Sandri sold 65,000 shares of Pilgrim’s Pride stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.50, for a total value of $2,892,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 279,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,440,642.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Fabio Sandri sold 65,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.50, for a total transaction of $2,892,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 279,565 shares in the company, valued at $12,440,642.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew R. Galvanoni sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.31, for a total transaction of $281,515.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,241,292.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 82.63% 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.