Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Shares Acquired by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 818,417 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,589 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.15% of Hormel Foods worth $25,944,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Hormel Foods by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,089,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,210,000 after purchasing an additional 412,313 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Hormel Foods by 24.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,976,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,738,000 after acquiring an additional 575,378 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Hormel Foods by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,772,481 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,043,000 after acquiring an additional 6,315 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in Hormel Foods by 86.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,602,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,867,000 after purchasing an additional 742,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 26.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 1,560,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,479,000 after purchasing an additional 322,645 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hormel Foods news, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of Hormel Foods 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 approximately $1,276,935. The trade was a 20.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.95, for a total transaction of $1,648,620.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 72,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,313,850.95. This represents a 41.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 71,400 shares of company stock worth $2,288,338 over the last quarter. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Hormel Foods Trading Down 3.9 %

NYSE:HRL opened at $29.21 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.94. The stock has a market cap of $16.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.26. Hormel Foods Co. has a 1 year low of $28.51 and a 1 year high of $36.86. 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 (NYSE:HRL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 11.03%. 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 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a dividend of $0.282 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.86%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.58%.

Hormel Foods 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.