WH Group chairman sells $50 million in Smithfield Foods stock

WH Group Ltd/ADR (OTC:WHGLY), the parent company of Smithfield Foods Inc (NASDAQ:SFD), has reported a significant stock sale by its Executive Director and Chairman, Long Wan. According to a recent SEC filing, WH Group sold 2,506,936 shares of Smithfield Foods at a price of $20 per share, totaling approximately $50.1 million. This transaction leaves WH Group with 364,518,817 shares of Smithfield Foods, which are held indirectly through SFDS UK Holdings Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of WH Group. The sale price represents a discount to the current trading price of $21.30, with the stock trading near its 52-week high of $22.03.

The sale is part of the company’s ongoing management of its investment portfolio, with WH Group maintaining a substantial ownership stake in Smithfield Foods. Investors will be monitoring any further transactions closely, given the scale of this recent sale. InvestingPro analysis shows Smithfield Foods currently appears undervalued, with a "GOOD" overall financial health score and strong fundamentals, including a healthy current ratio of 2.46 and an EBITDA of $1.11 billion in the last twelve months.

In other recent news, Smithfield Foods Inc. has completed its initial public offering (IPO), marking a significant milestone for the company. The IPO involved the sale of 26,086,958 shares at a public offering price of $20.00 per share. Smithfield Foods itself sold 13,043,479 of these shares, while the rest were sold by the company’s sole shareholder. The IPO generated net proceeds of approximately $234.1 million for Smithfield Foods, after accounting for underwriting discounts, commissions, and estimated offering expenses. However, the company did not receive any proceeds from the shares sold by the selling shareholder. Alongside the IPO, Smithfield Foods enacted changes to its corporate governance documents, including amendments to its articles of incorporation and bylaws. The company also introduced two new compensation plans: the Omnibus Incentive Plan and the Employee Stock Purchase Plan, which reserve shares for employees as part of its growth strategy. These developments reflect Smithfield Foods’ efforts to align its governance with its growth objectives and enhance employee incentives through stock ownership.

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