Ieq Capital LLC Purchases New Stake in Smithfield Foods, Inc. $SFD

Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smithfield Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFD) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 40,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $990,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in shares of Smithfield Foods during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Smithfield Foods in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Smithfield Foods in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Group One Trading LLC purchased a new position in Smithfield Foods in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Smithfield Foods in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on SFD. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Smithfield Foods in a report on Friday, July 24th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Smithfield Foods from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $32.00 price target on shares of Smithfield Foods in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Barclays cut their price target on Smithfield Foods from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Smithfield Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.50.

Smithfield Foods Stock Performance

Shares of SFD stock opened at $22.11 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $24.60 and its 200 day moving average is $25.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.25 and a beta of -0.44. Smithfield Foods, Inc. has a 12 month low of $21.08 and a 12 month high of $29.81. The company has a current ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 11th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.02. Smithfield Foods had a net margin of 6.84% and a return on equity of 15.55%. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Smithfield Foods, Inc. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Smithfield Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 13th were given a $0.3125 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 13th. This represents a $1.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.7%. Smithfield Foods’s payout ratio is 46.64%.

Smithfield Foods Profile

Smithfield Foods, Inc (NASDAQ: SFD) is one of the world’s largest pork processors and hog producers. Founded in 1936 in Smithfield, Virginia, the company has grown from a regional ham producer into a fully integrated food company offering a broad range of fresh pork, value-added meats and prepared foods. Its product portfolio includes bacon, ham, sausage, ribs and deli meats marketed under well-known brands such as Smithfield®, Nathan’s Famous® and Eckrich®.

Smithfield operates a network of hog production facilities, processing plants and distribution centers across the United States, Europe and Latin America.