Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Acquires 765 Shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) by 132.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,344 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 765 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride were worth $61,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 1,289.4% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,225,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $240,621,000 after acquiring an additional 4,849,147 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 903.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,455,513 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,026,000 after purchasing an additional 1,310,530 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 145,879.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 827,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,116,000 after purchasing an additional 827,134 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 366.1% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 638,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,320,000 after buying an additional 501,776 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 88.3% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 433,891 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,981,000 after buying an additional 203,408 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens started coverage on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Pilgrim’s Pride from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Pilgrim’s Pride from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Five 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.50.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Performance

Shares of Pilgrim’s Pride stock opened at $45.83 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.53. Pilgrim’s Pride Co. has a fifty-two week low of $26.52 and a fifty-two week high of $55.50. The firm has a market cap of $10.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 0.84.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last released its 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.69 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.58 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Pilgrim’s Pride Co. will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.