Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Acquires Shares of 27,528 Smithfield Foods, Inc. $SFD

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in Smithfield Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFD) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 27,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $668,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its position in shares of Smithfield Foods by 36.8% during the 1st quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 1,524 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. Capital Financial Group Inc. Co. ADV raised its position in Smithfield Foods by 5.8% during the first quarter. Capital Financial Group Inc. Co. ADV now owns 10,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in Smithfield Foods by 46.2% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 736 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings in Smithfield Foods by 1.1% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 68,812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,616,000 after purchasing an additional 739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Group One Trading LLC purchased a new position in Smithfield Foods during the first quarter valued at $31,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SFD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Smithfield Foods from $31.00 to $29.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Zacks Research lowered shares of Smithfield Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $32.00 price objective on shares of Smithfield Foods in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings lowered Smithfield Foods from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on Smithfield Foods from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.00.

Smithfield Foods Price Performance

Smithfield Foods stock opened at $20.52 on Thursday. Smithfield Foods, Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.36 and a 52-week high of $29.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.66 and a beta of -0.51. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

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

Smithfield Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 13th were issued a $0.3125 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 13th. This represents a $1.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.1%. Smithfield Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.64%.

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.