Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) investors should pay attention to a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers of late.
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are a multitude of indicators market participants can use to monitor publicly traded companies. Some of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best investment managers can outclass the S&P 500 by a very impressive amount (see just how much).
Equally as integral, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of incentives for an upper level exec to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).
Consequently, it’s important to take a peek at the recent action regarding Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC).
What have hedge funds been doing with Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC)?
In preparation for this quarter, a total of 14 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 0% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes substantially.
Of the funds we track, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management had the largest position in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC), worth close to $6.4 million, accounting for less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, which held a $5.5 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining peers that hold long positions include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Nelson Obus’s Wynnefield Capital and Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management.
Due to the fact that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) has witnessed falling interest from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there exists a select few funds that elected to cut their positions entirely at the end of the first quarter. Intriguingly, Alexander Mitchell’s Scopus Asset Management dropped the biggest investment of the 450+ funds we watch, valued at an estimated $3.3 million in stock., and Nancy Havens-Hasty of Havens Advisors was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $1.3 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
Insider trading activity in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC)
Bullish insider trading is best served when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC). These stocks are Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN), Leucadia National Corp. (NYSE:LUK), Smithfield Foods, Inc. (NYSE:SFD), Industrias Bachoco, S.A.B. de C.V. (ADR) (NYSE:IBA), and Seaboard Corporation (NYSEAMEX:SEB). This group of stocks are the members of the meat products industry and their market caps are closest to PPC’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) | 25 | 3 | 6 |
| Leucadia National Corp. (NYSE:LUK) | 27 | 0 | 0 |
| Smithfield Foods, Inc. (NYSE:SFD) | 28 | 0 | 2 |
| Industrias Bachoco, S.A.B. de C.V. (ADR) (NYSE:IBA) | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Seaboard Corporation (NYSEAMEX:SEB) | 5 | 0 | 0 |
With the returns exhibited by our strategies, everyday investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
