Court grants restrictions on Pilgrim's Pride stock

CHICAGO Feb 17 (Reuters) - U.S. chicken producer Pilgrim's Pride Corp PGPDQ.PK said on Tuesday it has received bankruptcy court approval to limit trading of its common stock and of options on its common stock.

The company, which filed for bankruptcy protection in December, had asked for the restrictions to protect certain tax benefits.

Pilgrim's Pride, one of the nation's largest chicken producers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on December 1 after struggling for about a year with high feed costs and low meat prices.

It also has a sizable debt, largely the result of its 2006 purchase of smaller rival Gold Kist Inc. (Reporting by Bob Burgdorfer; editing by Richard Chang)