Pilgrim’s Pride Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:PPC)

Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock traders bought 3,289 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 481% compared to the typical daily volume of 566 put options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pilgrim’s Pride news, CEO Fabio Sandri sold 65,000 shares of Pilgrim’s Pride stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.50, for a total value of $2,892,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 279,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,440,642.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Fabio Sandri sold 65,000 shares of Pilgrim’s Pride stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.50, for a total value of $2,892,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 279,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,440,642.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew R. Galvanoni sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.31, for a total transaction of $281,515.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,241,292.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 82.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pilgrim’s Pride

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. ORG Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride during the second quarter worth about $32,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp acquired a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Pilgrim’s Pride in the first quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Pilgrim’s Pride by 102.9% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 715 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PPC. Argus raised their price target on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America lowered Pilgrim’s Pride from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $47.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pilgrim’s Pride currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.80.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PPC traded down $0.66 during trading on Friday, hitting $42.59. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 375,410 shares, compared to its average volume of 761,752. Pilgrim’s Pride has a fifty-two week low of $22.33 and a fifty-two week high of $47.44. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $42.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.82. The company has a market capitalization of $10.09 billion, a PE ratio of 21.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 0.82.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.62 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 25.06% and a net margin of 4.25%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.44 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Pilgrim’s Pride will post 4.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Pilgrim’s Pride

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.