Smithfield Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFD) Short Interest Up 29.2% in March

Key Points

• Short interest rose 29.2% in March to 4.324 million shares (about 1.1% of shares outstanding) with a short-interest ratio of 1.8 days, signaling increased bearish bets on SFD.
• Wall Street sentiment has turned more positive with multiple upgrades (average rating: Buy) and an average target of $29.38, including Morgan Stanley raising its target to $31 and assigning an "overweight" rating.
• Smithfield beat expectations for the quarter (EPS $0.83 vs. $0.67 consensus; revenue $4.23B vs. $4.19B) and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.3125 (annualized $1.25), implying a ~4.5% yield.

Smithfield Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFD - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 4,324,250 shares, a growth of 29.2% from the March 15th total of 3,346,284 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,466,897 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fortress Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Smithfield Foods by 110.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fortress Investment Group LLC now owns 201,055 shares of the company's stock worth $4,721,000 after purchasing an additional 105,464 shares during the last quarter. Game Creek Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Smithfield Foods during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,849,000. Monashee Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smithfield Foods during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,226,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smithfield Foods during the 4th quarter worth approximately $595,000. Finally, MASO CAPITAL PARTNERS Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Smithfield Foods during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,882,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SFD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Smithfield Foods from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, March 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Smithfield Foods from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Smithfield Foods from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Smithfield Foods from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Smithfield Foods presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $29.38.

Smithfield Foods Trading Down 2.7%

SFD stock opened at $28.03 on Thursday. Smithfield Foods has a 12-month low of $19.31 and a 12-month high of $29.81. The stock has a market cap of $11.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.17 and a beta of -0.33. The business's 50-day moving average is $25.52 and its 200 day moving average is $23.45.

Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 24th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis.

Smithfield Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 7th will be issued a $0.3125 dividend. This represents a $1.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 7th. This is a positive change from Smithfield Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Smithfield Foods's payout ratio is presently 39.84%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.