Pacer Advisors Inc. Purchases Shares of 217,468 Smithfield Foods, Inc. $SFD

Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Smithfield Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFD) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 217,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,856,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned about 0.06% of Smithfield Foods at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Smithfield Foods by 193.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 219,450 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,900,000 after buying an additional 144,714 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its position in Smithfield Foods by 24.0% in the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 43,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $967,000 after acquiring an additional 8,386 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in Smithfield Foods during the 4th quarter valued at about $245,000. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its stake in Smithfield Foods by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 2,090,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,670,000 after purchasing an additional 253,286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VARCOV Co. bought a new stake in Smithfield Foods during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,155,000.

Smithfield Foods Price Performance

Smithfield Foods stock opened at $24.53 on Tuesday. Smithfield Foods, Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.08 and a 52 week high of $29.81. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $26.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.94. The stock has a market cap of $9.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.58 and a beta of -0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. Smithfield Foods had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 6.48%.Smithfield Foods’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.58 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Smithfield Foods, Inc. will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Smithfield Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were paid a $0.3125 dividend. This represents a $1.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. Smithfield Foods’s dividend payout ratio is 48.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Zacks Research downgraded Smithfield Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 25th. Barclays upped their price target on Smithfield Foods from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Smithfield Foods from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Smithfield Foods from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Smithfield Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.88.

Smithfield Foods Company 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.