Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.01 EPS

Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.01), Zacks reports.

Smithfield Foods Stock Down 2.3 %

NASDAQ SFD opened at $19.14 on Wednesday. Smithfield Foods has a fifty-two week low of $18.43 and a fifty-two week high of $22.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Smithfield Foods news, CEO Charles Shane Smith purchased 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $20.00 per share, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 120,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,400,000. This represents a 33.33 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Tennille J. Checkovich acquired 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $20.00 per share, with a total value of $40,000.00. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 12,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $240,000. The trade was a 20.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought 59,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,180,000 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.79% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Smithfield Foods in a research report on Monday, February 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 target price on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Smithfield Foods to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Smithfield Foods in a research report on Monday, February 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $23.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Smithfield Foods in a research report on Tuesday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $28.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on Smithfield Foods in a research note on Monday, February 24th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $27.86.

Smithfield Foods Company Profile

Smithfield Foods, Inc produces and markets a variety of fresh meat and packaged meats products both domestically and internationally. The Company operates in four segments: Pork, Hog Production, International and Corporate, each of which consists of a number of subsidiaries, joint ventures and other investments.