BNP Paribas Financial Markets Acquires 81,727 Shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) by 106.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 158,826 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 81,727 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride were worth $7,314,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 1,289.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,225,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $240,621,000 after acquiring an additional 4,849,147 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 145,879.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 827,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,116,000 after purchasing an additional 827,134 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 366.1% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 638,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,320,000 after purchasing an additional 501,776 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. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 88.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 433,891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,981,000 after purchasing an additional 203,408 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PPC. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America cut Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $47.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Pilgrim’s Pride from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Argus increased their price objective on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Stephens assumed 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 on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.50.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of PPC opened at $51.40 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $12.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.22 and a beta of 0.81. Pilgrim’s Pride Co. has a 1 year low of $25.51 and a 1 year high of $55.50. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $48.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.90.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.36. Pilgrim’s Pride had a net margin of 5.46% and a return on equity of 29.92%. The company had revenue of $4.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.58 earnings per share. Pilgrim’s Pride’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Pilgrim’s Pride Co. will post 4.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pilgrim’s Pride Company Profile

Pilgrim's Pride Corporation produces, processes, markets, and distributes fresh, frozen, and value-added chicken and pork products to retailers, distributors, and foodservice operators. The company offers fresh products, including refrigerated whole or cut-up chicken, selected chicken parts that are either marinated or non-marinated, primary pork cuts, added value pork, and pork ribs; and prepared products, which include fully cooked, ready-to-cook and individually frozen chicken parts, strips, nuggets and patties, processed sausages, bacon, smoked meat, gammon joints, pre-packed meats, sandwich and deli counter meats and meat balls.