Investors Research Corp Makes New Investment in Hormel Foods Corporation $HRL

Investors Research Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 32,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $815,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,338,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $701,098,000 after purchasing an additional 269,941 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 66.5% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,331,941 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,352,000 after buying an additional 4,526,167 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,080,832 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,805,000 after buying an additional 63,583 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,849,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,152,000 after acquiring an additional 134,983 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 6,618,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,864,000 after acquiring an additional 849,357 shares during the period. 40.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on HRL. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $25.00 target price on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Hormel Foods from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Friday, July 17th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price objective on shares of Hormel Foods from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.14.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Gary C. Bhojwani sold 20,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total transaction of $495,102.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 32,002 shares in the company, valued at $784,369.02. This trade represents a 38.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

Shares of Hormel Foods stock opened at $24.29 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.94. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $24.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.46. Hormel Foods Corporation has a twelve month low of $19.70 and a twelve month high of $29.34. The firm has a market cap of $13.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.34.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 3.82% and a return on equity of 9.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Hormel Foods Corporation will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 13th will be issued a $0.2925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 13th. This represents a $1.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 137.65%.

Hormel Foods Company Profile

Hormel Foods Corporation is a global branded foods company primarily engaged in the production, marketing and distribution of value-added, high-quality meat and food products. The company’s portfolio spans a range of categories including refrigerated and frozen meats, pantry staples, specialty foods and shelf-stable items. Through manufacturing facilities located across North America and international markets, Hormel Foods supplies retail grocers, foodservice operators, convenience stores and e-commerce platforms.

Among its best-known brands, Hormel Foods produces SPAM® canned meats, Jennie-O® turkey products, Skippy® peanut butter and Applegate® natural and organic meats.