SG Americas Securities LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

SG Americas Securities LLC trimmed its position in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 83.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,159 shares of the company’s stock after selling 68,118 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $413,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Advisory Alpha LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 20.7% in the fourth quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 13,453 shares of the company’s stock worth $422,000 after buying an additional 2,306 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Hormel Foods by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 20,127 shares of the company’s stock valued at $631,000 after purchasing an additional 2,074 shares in the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC raised its stake in Hormel Foods by 54.4% in the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 27,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $863,000 after purchasing an additional 9,684 shares in the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in Hormel Foods in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Finally, Liberty One Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Hormel Foods by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 862,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,051,000 after purchasing an additional 26,121 shares in the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HRL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Monday, October 21st. They set an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Hormel Foods currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hormel Foods

In other Hormel Foods news, VP Steven J. Lykken acquired 4,904 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $32.47 per share, for a total transaction of $159,232.88. Following the acquisition, the vice president now owns 7,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $230,537. This represents a 223.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Shares of HRL stock opened at $30.00 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $31.36 and a 200 day moving average of $31.46. Hormel Foods Co. has a 52 week low of $28.51 and a 52 week high of $36.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.26. 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 (NYSE:HRL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 10.95% and a net margin of 6.75%. The business had revenue of $3.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 13th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 13th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.87%. This is a positive change from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.45%.

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.