Insider Selling: Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Director Sells 4,500 Shares of Stock

Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Director Elsa A. Murano sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.40, for a total value of $136,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 95,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,902,835.20. The trade was a 4.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Hormel Foods Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE HRL opened at $30.95 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.66. Hormel Foods Co. has a 52 week low of $27.59 and a 52 week high of $36.86. The company has a market cap of $17.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Hormel Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.75%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 84.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $31.00 price objective on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays raised shares of Hormel Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Hormel Foods has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.80.

Institutional Trading of Hormel Foods

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HRL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,241,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,168,257,000 after purchasing an additional 268,328 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Hormel Foods by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,068,102 shares of the company’s stock worth $794,659,000 after acquiring an additional 617,308 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Hormel Foods by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,843,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,041,000 after acquiring an additional 533,657 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,461,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,459,000 after acquiring an additional 98,442 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 6,072,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,500,000 after purchasing an additional 413,669 shares in the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.