Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Bank of America

Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) in a research report report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on SFD. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Smithfield Foods in a research report on Monday. They set a “buy” rating and a $32.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Smithfield Foods in a report on Monday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Smithfield Foods has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.67.

Smithfield Foods Stock Down 4.6 %

NASDAQ SFD opened at $20.60 on Monday. Smithfield Foods has a 12-month low of $19.10 and a 12-month high of $22.03.

Insider Activity

In other Smithfield Foods news, major shareholder Group Ltd/Adr Wh sold 2,506,936 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total transaction of $50,138,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 364,518,817 shares in the company, valued at $7,290,376,340. This trade represents a 0.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Shane Smith purchased 30,000 shares of Smithfield Foods stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $20.00 per share, with a total value of $600,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 120,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,400,000. This trade represents a 33.33 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 59,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,180,000 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.79% of the company’s stock.

About Smithfield Foods

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.