Teza Capital Management LLC Sells 32,251 Shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC)

Teza Capital Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) by 59.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 22,048 shares of the company’s stock after selling 32,251 shares during the period. Teza Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride were worth $1,001,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Accredited Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. purchased a new stake in Pilgrim’s Pride during the fourth quarter valued at $55,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride during the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride during the fourth quarter valued at $118,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 23.3% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,000 after acquiring an additional 650 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 16.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Santander began coverage on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.40.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Performance

PPC stock opened at $48.64 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $11.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.67 and a beta of 0.51. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.17. Pilgrim’s Pride Co. has a one year low of $33.70 and a one year high of $57.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 2.01.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $4.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a net margin of 6.08% and a return on equity of 32.83%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Pilgrim’s Pride Co. will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pilgrim’s Pride Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a special dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a dividend of $6.30 per share. This is a positive change from Pilgrim’s Pride’s previous special dividend of $2.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd.

Pilgrim’s Pride Profile

Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. engages in the production, processing, marketing, and distribution of fresh, frozen and value-added chicken and pork products to retailers, distributors, and foodservice operators. It operates through the following segments: U.S., U.K. and Europe, and Mexico. The company was founded by Lonnie A.