Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) Stock Rating Lowered by Bank of America

Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) was downgraded by equities researchers at Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $21.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 11.23% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Smithfield Foods in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $21.00 price target on Smithfield Foods in a research report on Friday. Barclays cut their price objective on Smithfield Foods from $31.00 to $29.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings cut Smithfield Foods from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 29th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Smithfield Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Smithfield Foods currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.00.

Smithfield Foods Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:SFD opened at $18.88 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $21.47 and its 200-day moving average is $24.64. 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 has a 52 week low of $18.43 and a 52 week high of $29.81. The company has a market capitalization of $7.43 billion, a PE ratio of 7.04 and a beta of -0.41.

Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.02. The firm 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.55 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Smithfield Foods will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smithfield Foods

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SFD. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Smithfield Foods in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Group One Trading LLC acquired a new position in Smithfield Foods during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Smithfield Foods by 36.8% in the 1st quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 1,524 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Smithfield Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Smithfield Foods during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $58,000.

About Smithfield Foods

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.