Wedmont Private Capital Grows Stake in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation $PPC

Wedmont Private Capital grew its position in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) by 78.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,011 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 19,327 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride were worth $1,635,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PPC. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 17,817 shares of the company’s stock worth $801,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Kendall Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 6,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 3.5% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 9,824 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 0.9% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 43,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,956,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 4.7% in the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 8,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PPC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 15th. Zacks Research cut shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Santander upgraded shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.33.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Matthew R. Galvanoni sold 6,963 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.52, for a total transaction of $303,029.76. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 91,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,977,597.44. This represents a 7.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 82.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Pilgrim’s Pride Price Performance

Shares of PPC opened at $35.23 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.76 and a beta of 0.41. The business’s 50-day moving average is $41.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.47. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $34.96 and a fifty-two week high of $56.73.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.14). Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 35.15% and a net margin of 5.85%.The company had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Pilgrim’s Pride 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.