Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Reaches New 12-Month High at $41.87

Shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $41.87 and last traded at $41.83, with a volume of 73548 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $41.24.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on PPC shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Argus increased their price objective on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.60.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $9.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.27, a PEG ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company’s 50-day moving average is $37.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.21.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $4.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.45 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a net margin of 2.80% and a return on equity of 17.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.08 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Pilgrim’s Pride Co. will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pilgrim’s Pride

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Pilgrim’s Pride in the 2nd quarter valued at about $62,000. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 38.6% during the 2nd quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $560,000 after purchasing an additional 4,052 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 11,221 shares of the company’s stock worth $432,000 after purchasing an additional 1,030 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 394,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,176,000 after purchasing an additional 52,667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Highland Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $229,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

Pilgrim’s Pride Company 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.