Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. cut its holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 4.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 45,730 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,119 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $1,394,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 9.9% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 5,638,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,729,000 after buying an additional 505,942 shares in the last quarter. Mairs & Power Inc. increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Mairs & Power Inc. now owns 5,459,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $175,290,000 after buying an additional 108,944 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 97.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,900,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,151,000 after buying an additional 1,434,437 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,654,609 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,239,000 after acquiring an additional 144,605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,583,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,963,000 after acquiring an additional 196,460 shares during the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hormel Foods news, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.95, for a total transaction of $1,648,620.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 72,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,313,850.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Hormel Foods from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Citigroup raised Hormel Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $32.00 price target on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Friday, May 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.33.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

NYSE HRL opened at $32.37 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $31.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 2.29. Hormel Foods Co. has a fifty-two week low of $28.51 and a fifty-two week high of $39.58.

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

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.