Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation $PPC Shares Bought by Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) by 24.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 183,641 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 36,150 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC owned about 0.08% of Pilgrim’s Pride worth $7,160,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPC. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 59.3% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,776,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,852,000 after acquiring an additional 1,405,251 shares during the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride during the third quarter worth about $26,501,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 138.7% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 958,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,022,000 after acquiring an additional 556,766 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its position 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. raised its position 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on PPC shares. Zacks Research cut shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Stephens set a $40.00 target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.20.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PPC opened at $29.74 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $7.08 billion, a PE ratio of 7.97 and a beta of 0.28. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation has a 12 month low of $27.13 and a 12 month high of $50.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.09.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by ($0.18). The firm had revenue of $4.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.43 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 28.57% and a net margin of 4.78%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation will post 3.52 earnings per share for the current year.

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.