Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Has $23.25 Million Stock Position in Smithfield Foods, Inc. $SFD

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its position in Smithfield Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFD) by 232.4% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 831,100 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 581,100 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Smithfield Foods were worth $23,246,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in shares of Smithfield Foods by 47.4% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,023,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,858,000 after acquiring an additional 329,187 shares in the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new position in shares of Smithfield Foods during the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,735,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Smithfield Foods by 401.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 182,449 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,284,000 after purchasing an additional 146,086 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of Smithfield Foods by 45.5% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 166,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,706,000 after purchasing an additional 51,977 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Smithfield Foods by 341.2% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 27,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $616,000 after purchasing an additional 21,317 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on SFD. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Smithfield Foods from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Smithfield Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Smithfield Foods from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Smithfield Foods from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Smithfield Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Smithfield Foods presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.88.

Smithfield Foods Price Performance

NASDAQ:SFD opened at $26.26 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.42. Smithfield Foods, Inc. has a 52-week low of $21.08 and a 52-week high of $29.81. The company has a market cap of $10.33 billion, a PE ratio of 10.26 and a beta of -0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 2.41.

Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.06. Smithfield Foods had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 6.48%.The firm had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.58 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Smithfield Foods, Inc. will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smithfield Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were issued a $0.3125 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $1.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Smithfield Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.83%.

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.