Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the six ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $32.33.

Separately, Citigroup upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th.

Hormel Foods Stock Down 0.2 %

Hormel Foods stock opened at $31.65 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.35 billion, a PE ratio of 22.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.25. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.79. Hormel Foods has a 12 month low of $28.51 and a 12 month high of $38.27.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 6.52%. The company had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Hormel Foods will post 1.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a $0.282 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.71%.

Insider Transactions at Hormel Foods

In other news, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.95, for a total value of $1,648,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 72,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,313,850.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.91, for a total transaction of $312,718.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 30,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $976,094.99. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.95, for a total value of $1,648,620.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 72,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,313,850.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 71,400 shares of company stock worth $2,288,338. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hormel Foods

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HRL. Empirical Finance LLC grew its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 3.7% during the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 9,912 shares of the company’s stock worth $346,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 1.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 31,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $959,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 20,291 shares of the company’s stock worth $708,000 after buying an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. Viawealth LLC raised its position in Hormel Foods by 2.4% in the first quarter. Viawealth LLC now owns 17,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $598,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Hormel Foods by 1.2% during the second quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 41,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,273,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hormel Foods Company Profile

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.