SG Americas Securities LLC Buys New Shares in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation $PPC

SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 30,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPC. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,405,251 shares during the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride in the third quarter valued at $26,501,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 138.7% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 958,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,022,000 after purchasing an additional 556,766 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP increased its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 654.6% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 631,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,708,000 after acquiring an additional 547,663 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 10.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,672,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $230,993,000 after acquiring an additional 516,598 shares during the last quarter. 16.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pilgrim’s Pride

In other news, CFO Matthew R. Galvanoni sold 6,963 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.52, for a total value of $303,029.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 91,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 82.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PPC opened at $35.60 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.46 billion, a PE ratio of 7.84 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business has a 50-day moving average of $40.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.39. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation has a 12 month low of $34.39 and a 12 month high of $55.18.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. Pilgrim’s Pride’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PPC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Pilgrim’s Pride from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Santander upgraded Pilgrim’s Pride from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.67.

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.