PDT Partners LLC Acquires New Holdings in Smithfield Foods, Inc. $SFD

PDT Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Smithfield Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFD) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 69,820 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,694,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millennium Management LLC increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,760,713 shares in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP lifted its position in Smithfield Foods by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 2,090,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,670,000 after acquiring an additional 253,286 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Smithfield Foods by 653.3% in the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,664,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,084,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443,605 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in Smithfield Foods by 28.8% in the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,560,647 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,849,000 after purchasing an additional 348,503 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in Smithfield Foods by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,431,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,955,000 after purchasing an additional 109,254 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on SFD shares. Zacks Research downgraded Smithfield Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Smithfield Foods from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Wall Street Zen lowered Smithfield Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Smithfield Foods in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Smithfield Foods in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.50.

Smithfield Foods Price Performance

NASDAQ:SFD opened at $22.06 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 2.56. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $24.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.56. The company has a market cap of $8.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.23 and a beta of -0.44. Smithfield Foods, Inc. has a 52-week low of $21.08 and a 52-week high of $29.81.

Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.02. Smithfield Foods had a return on equity of 15.55% and a net margin of 6.84%.The business had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Smithfield Foods, Inc. will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smithfield Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.3125 per share. This represents a $1.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 13th. Smithfield Foods’s payout ratio is presently 46.64%.

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.