Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) issued its earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.01), Zacks reports.

Smithfield Foods Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ SFD opened at $19.60 on Tuesday. Smithfield Foods has a 52-week low of $18.43 and a 52-week high of $22.03.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on SFD shares. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Smithfield Foods to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Smithfield Foods in a research note on Monday, February 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group initiated coverage on Smithfield Foods in a research note on Monday, February 24th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Smithfield Foods in a research note on Monday, February 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $32.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of Smithfield Foods in a research report on Monday, February 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $27.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Charles Shane Smith bought 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $20.00 per share, with a total value of $600,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 120,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,400,000. This trade represents a 33.33 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Group Ltd/Adr Wh sold 2,506,936 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total transaction of $50,138,720.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 364,518,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,290,376,340. The trade was a 0.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 59,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,180,000. 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.