BMO Capital Markets Issues Positive Forecast for Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) Stock Price

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) had its target price lifted by equities research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $40.00 to $42.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “market perform” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 0.84% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on PPC. Barclays lowered their price target on Pilgrim’s Pride from $49.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Santander upgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Pilgrim’s Pride has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.33.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Down 3.6%

Pilgrim’s Pride stock opened at $41.65 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.17 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.51. Pilgrim’s Pride has a fifty-two week low of $35.73 and a fifty-two week high of $57.16. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.33.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.14). Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 35.68% and a net margin of 5.85%.The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.35 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Pilgrim’s Pride will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Pilgrim’s Pride

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PPC. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 50.6% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 200,390 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,813,000 after buying an additional 67,337 shares during the period. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec boosted its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 3,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 101.0% in the 4th quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 20,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $818,000 after acquiring an additional 10,550 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased 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 in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaCentric Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride during the fourth quarter worth $68,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

About Pilgrim’s Pride

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.