Smithfield Foods, Inc’s Quiet Period To End on March 10th (NASDAQ:SFD)

Smithfield Foods’ (NASDAQ:SFD) quiet period is set to end on Monday, March 10th. Smithfield Foods had issued 26,086,958 shares in its public offering on January 28th. The total size of the offering was $521,739,160 based on an initial share price of $20.00. During the company’s quiet period, insiders and underwriters involved in the IPO are restricted from issuing any research reports or earnings estimates for the company because of regulations issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Following the expiration of the company’s quiet period, the brokerages that served as underwriters will likely initiate research coverage on the company.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SFD has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group started coverage on Smithfield Foods in a report on Monday, February 24th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Smithfield Foods in a research report on Monday, February 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Smithfield Foods in a report on Monday, February 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Smithfield Foods in a research report on Monday, February 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Smithfield Foods in a report on Monday, February 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $28.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.67.

Smithfield Foods Stock Performance

NASDAQ SFD opened at $19.77 on Friday. Smithfield Foods has a 52-week low of $19.10 and a 52-week high of $22.03.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Smithfield Foods news, major shareholder Group Ltd/Adr Wh sold 2,506,936 shares of Smithfield Foods stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 364,518,817 shares in the company, valued at $7,290,376,340. The trade was a 0.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Tennille J. Checkovich purchased 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $20.00 per share, for a total transaction of $40,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 12,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $240,000. This trade represents a 20.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 59,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,180,000 over the last three months. 1.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.