JPMorgan Chase & Co. Buys 146,086 Shares of Smithfield Foods, Inc. $SFD

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Smithfield Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFD) by 401.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 182,449 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 146,086 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Smithfield Foods were worth $4,284,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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. boosted its holdings in Smithfield Foods by 653.3% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Smithfield Foods in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,295,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Smithfield Foods by 583.6% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,212,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,461,000 after buying an additional 1,034,814 shares during the period. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its position in Smithfield Foods by 553.2% during the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,061,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,930,000 after acquiring an additional 899,200 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SFD has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Smithfield Foods from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Smithfield Foods from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Smithfield Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 29th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Smithfield Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.38.

Smithfield Foods Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SFD opened at $28.37 on Friday. Smithfield Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.55 and a 1 year high of $28.85. The company has a market capitalization of $11.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.30 and a beta of -0.33. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.15.

Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 24th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.19 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis.

Smithfield Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.3125 per share. This represents a $1.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. This is a positive change from Smithfield Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 7th. Smithfield Foods’s payout ratio is currently 39.84%.

About Smithfield Foods

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.