Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Earns Equal Weight Rating from Analysts at Stephens

Investment analysts at Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, StockNewsAPI reports. The firm set an “equal weight” rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. Stephens’ price objective points to a potential downside of 10.15% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Argus boosted their price target on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $47.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.33.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Down 0.5 %

PPC stock opened at $47.86 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.09. Pilgrim’s Pride has a 1-year low of $22.33 and a 1-year high of $49.07. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $43.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.89. The firm has a market cap of $11.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.23, a PEG ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 0.82.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.35. Pilgrim’s Pride had a net margin of 4.25% and a return on equity of 25.06%. The firm had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Pilgrim’s Pride will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pilgrim’s Pride

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PPC. ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride during the second quarter worth $32,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp acquired a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride during the first quarter worth $38,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 715 shares in the last quarter. 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.