Islay Capital Management LLC Takes $858,000 Position in Smithfield Foods, Inc. $SFD

Islay Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Smithfield Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFD) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 38,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $858,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Smithfield Foods by 94.0% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,634,709 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,343,000 after acquiring an additional 1,760,713 shares in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its holdings in Smithfield Foods by 73.2% in the third quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,836,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,126,000 after purchasing an additional 776,330 shares in the last quarter. 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 purchasing an additional 1,443,605 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Smithfield Foods by 28.8% in the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,560,647 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,849,000 after purchasing an additional 348,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in Smithfield Foods by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,431,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,955,000 after purchasing an additional 109,254 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SFD. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Smithfield Foods from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. 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 upgraded shares of Smithfield Foods from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Barclays upped their price objective 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. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Smithfield Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.88.

Smithfield Foods Price Performance

NASDAQ SFD opened at $25.93 on Tuesday. Smithfield Foods, Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.08 and a twelve month high of $29.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 2.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.20 billion, a PE ratio of 10.13 and a beta of -0.49. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.82.

Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.58 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Smithfield Foods, Inc. will post 2.74 EPS for the current year.

Smithfield Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were given a dividend of $0.3125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 is currently 48.83%.

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.