Smithfield Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFD) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Smithfield Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFD) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $29.8750.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Smithfield Foods from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Zacks Research cut shares of Smithfield Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 25th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Smithfield Foods from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Smithfield Foods from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Smithfield Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SFD. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Smithfield Foods in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Smithfield Foods in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Oakworth Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Smithfield Foods in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Group One Trading LLC purchased a new position in shares of Smithfield Foods in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Smithfield Foods in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000.

Smithfield Foods Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SFD opened at $26.77 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 2.41. The company has a fifty day moving average of $27.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.53 billion, a PE ratio of 10.46 and a beta of -0.49. Smithfield Foods has a fifty-two week low of $21.08 and a fifty-two week high of $29.81.

Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.74 billion. Smithfield Foods had a net margin of 6.48% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.58 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Smithfield Foods will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smithfield Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were paid a dividend of $0.3125 per share. This represents a $1.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. Smithfield Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.83%.

Smithfield Foods Company 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.