Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP Makes New $364,000 Investment in Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC)

Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP bought a new position in Pilgrim’s Pride Co. (NASDAQ:PPC) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 8,016 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $364,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp increased its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 110.4% during the 4th quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 14,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $640,000 after purchasing an additional 7,400 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride during the 4th quarter valued at about $55,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 193.5% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 7,306 shares of the company’s stock valued at $331,000 after purchasing an additional 4,817 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 26.8% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,845,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,766,000 after purchasing an additional 389,967 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 32.6% during the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 283,092 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,850,000 after purchasing an additional 69,566 shares during the last quarter. 16.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered Pilgrim’s Pride from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Santander started coverage on 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 price target on Pilgrim’s Pride from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.40.

Pilgrim’s Pride Price Performance

PPC opened at $47.28 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.31. Pilgrim’s Pride Co. has a 1 year low of $33.70 and a 1 year high of $57.16. The firm has a market cap of $11.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.37 and a beta of 0.51.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $4.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 32.83% and a net margin of 6.08%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.77 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Pilgrim’s Pride Co. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Pilgrim’s Pride Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a special dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a $6.30 dividend. 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.

About Pilgrim’s Pride

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.