Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Position Reduced by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,080,331 shares of the company’s stock after selling 558,215 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC owned 0.93% of Hormel Foods worth $154,899,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of HRL. Norges Bank bought a new position in Hormel Foods during the 4th quarter worth approximately $62,323,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Hormel Foods by 97.8% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,900,989 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,151,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434,437 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 24.0% in the second 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 during the period. Vest Financial LLC increased its stake in Hormel Foods by 40.6% during the first quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 1,221,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,606,000 after purchasing an additional 352,896 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods during the first quarter worth $10,140,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HRL has been the subject of several research reports. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $32.00 price target on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Friday, May 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Hormel Foods from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $28.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Hormel Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.33.

Insider Activity

In other Hormel Foods news, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total value of $327,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,050 shares in the company, valued at $1,276,935. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Hormel Foods news, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total value of $327,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,050 shares in the company, valued at $1,276,935. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 72,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,313,850.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Hormel Foods Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of Hormel Foods stock opened at $31.77 on Friday. Hormel Foods Co. has a 1-year low of $28.51 and a 1-year high of $39.58. The company has a market capitalization of $17.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.69, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.25. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $32.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.93. 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. The business had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 11.03%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.58 EPS for the current year.

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.