Covestor Ltd Buys 834 Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 41.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,843 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 834 shares during the quarter. Covestor Ltd’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $90,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in HRL. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Hormel Foods by 86.4% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,602,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,867,000 after acquiring an additional 742,859 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 24.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,976,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,738,000 after purchasing an additional 575,378 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Hormel Foods by 59.1% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,244,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,470,000 after buying an additional 462,283 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Hormel Foods by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,089,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,210,000 after buying an additional 412,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Hormel Foods by 328.3% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 514,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,297,000 after buying an additional 394,068 shares during the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

HRL stock opened at $30.39 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.26. Hormel Foods Co. has a 12 month low of $28.51 and a 12 month high of $36.86. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 11.03%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current 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. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is presently 79.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on HRL shares. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Monday, October 21st. They set an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $33.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 price objective on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hormel Foods presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.57.

Insider Transactions at Hormel Foods

In related news, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.91, for a total value of $312,718.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 30,589 shares in the company, valued at $976,094.99. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Hormel Foods news, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 30,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $976,094.99. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total value of $327,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 39,050 shares in the company, valued at $1,276,935. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 71,400 shares of company stock valued at $2,288,338 in the last 90 days. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.