Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Makes New $814,000 Investment in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation $PPC

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 19,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $814,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 10.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,672,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,993,000 after purchasing an additional 516,598 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 59.3% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,776,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,852,000 after buying an additional 1,405,251 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 22.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,171,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,689,000 after buying an additional 404,915 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 21.5% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,584,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,282,000 after buying an additional 280,745 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 48.6% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,459,203 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,635,000 after buying an additional 477,216 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Down 1.7%

PPC stock opened at $41.74 on Monday. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation has a one year low of $35.73 and a one year high of $56.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $41.21 and its 200 day moving average is $41.02. The firm has a market cap of $9.92 billion, a PE ratio of 9.19 and a beta of 0.43.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, February 15th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research downgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Pilgrim’s Pride from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Santander upgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.33.

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.