Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Short Interest Update

Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,110,000 shares, an increase of 7.7% from the May 31st total of 8,460,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,540,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.6 days. Currently, 3.1% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Friday, May 31st. Citigroup lowered their target price on Hormel Foods from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Hormel Foods from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $28.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, May 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.67.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hormel Foods

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Hormel Foods by 688.3% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 741 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 647 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hormel Foods in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hormel Foods in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 774.8% in the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 1,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 1,077 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clarity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Hormel Foods in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Hormel Foods Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of HRL traded down $0.31 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $30.24. The company had a trading volume of 726,986 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,871,132. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.24. Hormel Foods has a 1 year low of $28.51 and a 1 year high of $41.73.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 6.37%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Hormel Foods will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Hormel Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be given a dividend of $0.2825 per share. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 15th. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.71%.

About Hormel Foods

Hormel Foods Corporation develops, processes, and distributes various meat, nuts, and other food products to retail, foodservice, deli, and commercial customers in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Retail, Foodservice, and International segments. The company provides various perishable products that include fresh meats, frozen items, refrigerated meal solutions, sausages, hams, guacamoles, and bacons; and shelf-stable products comprising canned luncheon meats, nut butters, snack nuts, chili, shelf-stable microwaveable meals, hash, stews, tortillas, salsas, tortilla chips, nutritional food supplements, and others.