Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $28.49, but opened at $30.40. Pilgrim’s Pride shares last traded at $32.2680, with a volume of 547,371 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 7th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.50.

Pilgrim’s Pride Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $7.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.85 and a beta of 0.29. The company’s 50 day moving average is $28.25 and its 200 day moving average is $33.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.06). Pilgrim’s Pride had a net margin of 2.96% and a return on equity of 21.70%. The company had revenue of $4.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.70 earnings per share. Pilgrim’s Pride’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride during the second quarter worth $138,936,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 59.3% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,776,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,852,000 after acquiring an additional 1,405,251 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 1,196.4% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 813,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,731,000 after purchasing an additional 751,042 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 27.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,418,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,296,000 after purchasing an additional 742,204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,501,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

Pilgrim’s Pride Company Profile

Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation is a leading poultry producer in the United States and Mexico and a wholly owned subsidiary of JBS SA Headquartered in Greeley, Colorado, and Pittsburg, Texas, the company specializes in the production, processing and distribution of fresh, frozen and value-added chicken products. Pilgrim’s Pride serves a diverse customer base that includes retail grocery chains, foodservice distributors and restaurant operators across North America and in select international markets.

The company’s vertically integrated operations encompass breeding, hatching, feed milling, processing plants and cold storage facilities.