Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Citigroup

Citigroup began coverage on shares of Smithfield Foods (NASDAQ:SFD) in a research note released on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $27.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on SFD. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Smithfield Foods in a report on Monday. They set a “buy” rating and a $32.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Smithfield Foods in a research note on Monday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on Smithfield Foods in a report on Monday. They set a “buy” rating and a $28.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.67.

Smithfield Foods Price Performance

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.