Ieq Capital LLC Takes Position in Smithfield Foods, Inc. $SFD

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

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Altshuler Shaham Ltd raised its holdings in Smithfield Foods by 36.8% during the first quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 1,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. Capital Financial Group Inc. Co. ADV grew its holdings in shares of Smithfield Foods by 5.8% during the first quarter. Capital Financial Group Inc. Co. ADV now owns 10,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Smithfield Foods by 46.2% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its position in shares of Smithfield Foods by 1.1% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 68,812 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,616,000 after acquiring an additional 739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Group One Trading LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smithfield Foods during the first quarter worth about $31,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on SFD shares. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Smithfield Foods from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Barclays lowered their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Smithfield Foods in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Smithfield Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Smithfield Foods in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.50.

Smithfield Foods Stock Up 0.2%

Smithfield Foods stock opened at $22.11 on Friday. Smithfield Foods, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $21.08 and a fifty-two week high of $29.81. The stock has a market cap of $8.71 billion, a PE ratio of 8.25 and a beta of -0.44. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $24.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 2.56.

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

Smithfield Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 13th were given a dividend of $0.3125 per share. This represents a $1.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 13th. Smithfield Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.64%.

About Smithfield Foods

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.