27,528 Shares in Smithfield Foods, Inc. $SFD Acquired by Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of Smithfield Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFD) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 27,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $668,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Smithfield Foods by 94.0% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,634,709 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,343,000 after buying an additional 1,760,713 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Smithfield Foods by 653.3% during the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,664,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,084,000 after acquiring an additional 1,443,605 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Smithfield Foods during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,291,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Smithfield Foods in the second quarter valued at about $33,145,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Smithfield Foods by 583.6% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,212,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,461,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034,814 shares during the period.

Smithfield Foods Price Performance

NASDAQ:SFD opened at $20.52 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.56 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $24.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.36. Smithfield Foods, Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.36 and a 1-year high of $29.81. The firm has a market cap of $8.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.66 and a beta of -0.51.

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, topping 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 firm had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Smithfield Foods, Inc. will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Smithfield Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 13th were paid a dividend of $0.3125 per share. This represents a $1.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 13th. Smithfield Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.64%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on SFD shares. Zacks Research lowered Smithfield Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Smithfield Foods from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Smithfield Foods from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Smithfield Foods from $31.00 to $29.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $32.00 price objective on shares of Smithfield Foods in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Smithfield Foods currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.00.

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.