Czech National Bank Increases Stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 59,198 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,884 shares during the period. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $1,877,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HRL. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 97.8% during 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 during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Hormel Foods by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 38,555 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,238,000 after purchasing an additional 2,328 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its stake in Hormel Foods by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 54,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,753,000 after purchasing an additional 5,213 shares during the last quarter. Mairs & Power Inc. grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 108,944 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bontempo Ohly Capital Mgmt LLC grew its stake in Hormel Foods by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Bontempo Ohly Capital Mgmt LLC now owns 92,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,964,000 after purchasing an additional 5,631 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Hormel Foods Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:HRL opened at $31.26 on Tuesday. Hormel Foods Co. has a 12-month low of $28.51 and a 12-month high of $37.24. The company has a market capitalization of $17.14 billion, a PE ratio of 22.33, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.25. The business has a 50 day moving average of $32.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.72. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. Hormel Foods’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.58 EPS for the current year.

Hormel Foods Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.282 per share. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is 80.71%.

Insider Transactions at Hormel Foods

In other news, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.91, for a total transaction of $312,718.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 30,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $976,094.99. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.91, for a total transaction of $312,718.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 30,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $976,094.99. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total value of $327,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,276,935. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 71,400 shares of company stock valued at $2,288,338 in the last three months. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup upgraded Hormel Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Stephens started coverage on Hormel Foods in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.17.

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.