Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Shares Sold by Vontobel Holding Ltd.

Vontobel Holding Ltd. trimmed its stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 54.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,503 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,684 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $333,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of HRL. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 742,859 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 24.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,976,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,738,000 after buying an additional 575,378 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 9.9% during 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. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 59.1% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,244,448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,470,000 after buying an additional 462,283 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 15.4% during the second 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. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hormel Foods

In other Hormel Foods 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 value of $312,718.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 30,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $976,094.99. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 value of $312,718.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 30,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $976,094.99. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.95, for a total value of $1,648,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 72,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,313,850.95. This represents 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 quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HRL opened at $31.09 on Wednesday. Hormel Foods Co. has a fifty-two week low of $28.51 and a fifty-two week high of $36.86. The business has a 50-day moving average of $31.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.25. 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 data on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 6.52%. The business had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Cuts Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.63%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HRL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stephens initiated coverage on Hormel Foods in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 price target on the stock. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Hormel Foods in a report on Monday. They set an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Hormel Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $33.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.57.

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.