Engineers Gate Manager LP Purchases 337,977 Shares of Smithfield Foods, Inc. $SFD

Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its position in shares of Smithfield Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFD) by 2,584.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 351,055 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 337,977 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP’s holdings in Smithfield Foods were worth $8,517,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SFD. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in shares of Smithfield Foods in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Smithfield Foods during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Smithfield Foods during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Group One Trading LLC acquired a new stake in Smithfield Foods during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC bought a new position in Smithfield Foods in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Smithfield Foods Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:SFD opened at $20.59 on Friday. Smithfield Foods, Inc. has a one year low of $20.36 and a one year high of $29.81. The company has a 50 day moving average of $24.01 and a 200-day moving average of $25.33. 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 stock has a market cap of $8.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.68 and a beta of -0.51.

Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 11th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.55 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Smithfield Foods, Inc. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Smithfield Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 13th were given a $0.3125 dividend. This represents a $1.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 13th. Smithfield Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.64%.

Smithfield Foods Profile

Smithfield Foods, Inc is a food company focused on pork production and processing. Its operations include raising hogs, processing fresh pork, and producing packaged meats and prepared foods for retail, foodservice and other customers.

The company markets products under brands including Smithfield, Eckrich, Farmland, Gwaltney, John Morrell and Healthy Ones. Its offerings include fresh pork cuts, bacon, ham, sausage, lunch meats, hot dogs and other prepared pork products.

Founded in 1936 and headquartered in Smithfield, Virginia, Smithfield serves customers in the United States and international markets through its production, processing and distribution network.