Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Reduces Holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation $PPC

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) by 30.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 135,388 shares of the company’s stock after selling 58,643 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride were worth $5,142,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 59.3% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,776,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,852,000 after acquiring an additional 1,405,251 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 1,196.4% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 813,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,731,000 after purchasing an additional 751,042 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,418,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,296,000 after purchasing an additional 742,204 shares in the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride during the third quarter valued at $26,501,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings 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 valued at $39,022,000 after purchasing an additional 556,766 shares during the period. 16.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on PPC. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Pilgrim’s Pride from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group started coverage on Pilgrim’s Pride in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price objective for the company. Stephens set a $40.00 target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.83.

Pilgrim’s Pride Price Performance

Shares of Pilgrim’s Pride stock opened at $27.92 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.69. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation has a 52 week low of $26.50 and a 52 week high of $50.56. The company has a market capitalization of $6.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.49 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.69 by ($0.18). Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 28.57% and a net margin of 4.78%.The business had revenue of $4.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.