Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $31.17.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on HRL shares. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Hormel Foods in a report on Monday, October 21st. They set an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays upgraded Hormel Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th.

Hormel Foods Trading Down 1.2 %

Hormel Foods stock opened at $28.86 on Tuesday. Hormel Foods has a 12 month low of $28.51 and a 12 month high of $36.86. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.38. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market capitalization of $15.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.26.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $3.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.14 billion. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.75% and a return on equity of 10.95%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Hormel Foods will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 13th will be paid a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 13th. This is a positive change from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.02%. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is currently 79.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Steven J. Lykken acquired 4,904 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $32.47 per share, for a total transaction of $159,232.88. Following the acquisition, the vice president now owns 7,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $230,537. This represents a 223.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,068,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $794,659,000 after purchasing an additional 617,308 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,362,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $232,646,000 after buying an additional 120,212 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 3,267,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,570,000 after buying an additional 162,577 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 67.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,926,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,810,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175,087 shares during the period. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 56.0% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,237,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,934,000 after acquiring an additional 802,816 shares during the period. 40.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.