Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Has $602,000 Stock Position in Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) by 3.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 13,079 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride were worth $602,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 1.9% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 13,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $510,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 3.6% during the second quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 9,290 shares of the company’s stock worth $358,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 19.1% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,086 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SummerHaven Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 31,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,210,000 after buying an additional 413 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America lowered shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $47.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays boosted their target price on Pilgrim’s Pride from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Stephens assumed coverage on Pilgrim’s Pride in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Pilgrim’s Pride from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on Pilgrim’s Pride from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.50.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Performance

PPC opened at $50.48 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $47.82 and a 200-day moving average of $42.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.95. Pilgrim’s Pride Co. has a 52-week low of $25.23 and a 52-week high of $55.50. The company has a market cap of $11.97 billion, a PE ratio of 12.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 0.81.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.36. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 29.92% and a net margin of 5.46%. The company had revenue of $4.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.58 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Pilgrim’s Pride Co. will post 4.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pilgrim’s Pride Profile

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.