Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) Trading 3.2% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Smithfield Foods, Inc (NASDAQ:SFD) shares were up 3.2% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $19.84 and last traded at $19.76. Approximately 294,716 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 65% from the average daily volume of 843,745 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.14.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SFD has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of Smithfield Foods in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $29.00 price objective on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Smithfield Foods to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Smithfield Foods in a research note on Monday, February 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $28.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays assumed coverage on Smithfield Foods in a research note on Monday, February 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $28.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Smithfield Foods in a research report on Tuesday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.86.

Smithfield Foods Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $7.95 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.91.

Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 25th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $3.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.91 billion.

Smithfield Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Smithfield Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.05%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Group Ltd/Adr Wh sold 2,506,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total value of $50,138,720.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 364,518,817 shares in the company, valued at $7,290,376,340. This represents a 0.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Tennille J. Checkovich purchased 2,000 shares of Smithfield Foods stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $20.00 per share, with a total value of $40,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $240,000. This represents a 20.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 59,000 shares of company stock worth $1,180,000 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.79% of the company’s stock.

Smithfield Foods Company Profile

Smithfield Foods, Inc produces and markets a variety of fresh meat and packaged meats products both domestically and internationally. The Company operates in four segments: Pork, Hog Production, International and Corporate, each of which consists of a number of subsidiaries, joint ventures and other investments.