Analysts Set Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) Price Target at $45.50

Shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $45.50.

PPC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stephens started coverage on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price 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.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Up 3.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ PPC opened at $46.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $48.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 0.84. Pilgrim’s Pride has a 1 year low of $26.52 and a 1 year high of $55.50.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.36. The company had revenue of $4.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.58 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Pilgrim’s Pride will post 5.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pilgrim’s Pride

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 535.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 113,785 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,380,000 after acquiring an additional 95,878 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 6.2% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 67,497 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,598,000 after purchasing an additional 3,965 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 16.7% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 635,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,450,000 after purchasing an additional 91,127 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 256.6% in the second quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 81,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,148,000 after purchasing an additional 58,843 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 7,658 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,000 after buying an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

About Pilgrim’s Pride

Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. engages in the production, processing, marketing, and distribution of fresh, frozen and value-added chicken and pork products to retailers, distributors, and foodservice operators. It operates through the following segments: U.S., U.K. and Europe, and Mexico. The company was founded by Lonnie A.