Smithfield Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFD) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $26.00 According to Analysts

Shares of Smithfield Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFD) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $26.00.

SFD has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $21.00 price objective on Smithfield Foods in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Zacks Research lowered Smithfield Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Smithfield Foods from $31.00 to $29.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Smithfield Foods from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Smithfield Foods in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th.

Institutional Trading of Smithfield Foods

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Smithfield Foods during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,145,000. Fourth Sail Capital LP grew its position in Smithfield Foods by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Fourth Sail Capital LP now owns 1,140,619 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,470,000 after acquiring an additional 159,038 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its stake in Smithfield Foods by 232.4% in the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 831,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,246,000 after purchasing an additional 581,100 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Smithfield Foods in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $19,855,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Smithfield Foods in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $18,975,000.

Smithfield Foods Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Smithfield Foods stock opened at $18.30 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.82 and a beta of -0.41. Smithfield Foods has a 52-week low of $18.17 and a 52-week high of $29.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 2.56. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.46.

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. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter. Smithfield Foods had a net margin of 6.84% and a return on equity of 15.55%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Smithfield Foods will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Smithfield Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 13th were given a dividend of $0.3125 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 13th. This represents a $1.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.8%. Smithfield Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.64%.

Smithfield Foods Company Profile

Smithfield Foods, Inc is a vertically integrated food company focused on pork production and packaged meats. Its operations include raising livestock, processing and packaging pork, and distributing fresh pork and prepared foods. The company’s products include bacon, ham, sausage, hot dogs, lunch meats, fresh pork cuts and other refrigerated and shelf-stable meat products.

Smithfield markets products under brands including Smithfield, Eckrich, Farmland, Nathan’s Famous and Healthy Ones, as well as private-label offerings for retailers and food-service customers.