Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $32.33.

Separately, Citigroup upgraded Hormel Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hormel Foods news, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 30,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $976,094.99. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 30,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $976,094.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.95, for a total value of $1,648,620.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 72,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,313,850.95. 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 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 3.7% in the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 9,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 1.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 31,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $959,000 after buying an additional 384 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in Hormel Foods by 2.0% during the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 20,291 shares of the company’s stock worth $708,000 after acquiring an additional 389 shares during the period. Viawealth LLC raised its position in Hormel Foods by 2.4% during the first quarter. Viawealth LLC now owns 17,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $598,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 1.2% in the second quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 41,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,273,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares during the period. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hormel Foods Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:HRL opened at $31.65 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.35 billion, a PE ratio of 22.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.25. 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 has a 52-week low of $28.51 and a 52-week high of $38.27. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $32.04 and a 200 day moving average of $32.79.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 11.03%. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Hormel Foods 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.282 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.71%.

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.