Pilgrim's Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) Receives $45.50 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of Pilgrim's Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the six analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $45.50.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PPC. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective 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. Argus raised their price objective on 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 cut Pilgrim's Pride from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $47.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays raised their price objective on Pilgrim's Pride from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Stephens assumed 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.

Pilgrim's Pride Stock Down 0.5 %

PPC stock traded down $0.25 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $50.48. 608,803 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 900,056. The firm's 50-day moving average is $47.82 and its 200-day moving average is $42.69. The company has a market cap of $11.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.19, a PEG ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Pilgrim's Pride has a 12 month low of $25.23 and a 12 month high of $55.50.

Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.36. The firm had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.69 billion. Pilgrim's Pride had a return on equity of 29.92% and a net margin of 5.46%. The company's revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.58 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Pilgrim's Pride will post 4.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pilgrim's Pride

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PPC. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in 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 worth $240,621,000 after acquiring an additional 4,849,147 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in Pilgrim's Pride by 903.9% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,455,513 shares of the company's stock worth $67,026,000 after acquiring an additional 1,310,530 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in Pilgrim's Pride by 145,879.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 827,701 shares of the company's stock worth $38,116,000 after acquiring an additional 827,134 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Pilgrim's Pride by 366.1% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 638,825 shares of the company's stock worth $24,320,000 after acquiring an additional 501,776 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 203,408 shares during the last quarter. 16.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.