Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Price Target Increased to $46.00 by Analysts at BMO Capital Markets

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) had its target price increased by BMO Capital Markets from $43.00 to $46.00 in a report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

PPC has been the subject of several other reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday. Argus raised their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $43.40.

Pilgrim’s Pride Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PPC traded down $0.74 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $41.47. The company had a trading volume of 828,745 shares, compared to its average volume of 599,001. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. Pilgrim’s Pride has a twelve month low of $22.33 and a twelve month high of $44.62. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.78.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.67 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $4.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Pilgrim’s Pride will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pilgrim’s Pride

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 3.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,233,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $145,310,000 after buying an additional 136,970 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,691,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,097,000 after buying an additional 72,446 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,299,313 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,939,000 after buying an additional 328,660 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 734,588 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,319,000 after buying an additional 8,173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 15.4% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 394,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,176,000 after buying an additional 52,667 shares in the last quarter. 16.64% of the stock is 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.