Assetmark Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Assetmark Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 97.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,543 shares of the company’s stock after selling 54,817 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $49,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Hormel Foods during the 3rd quarter worth about $298,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Hormel Foods during the 3rd quarter worth about $47,000. Keynote Financial Services LLC lifted its position in Hormel Foods by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC now owns 13,202 shares of the company’s stock worth $419,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Hormel Foods during the 3rd quarter worth about $91,000. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Hormel Foods by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 250,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,930,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020 shares during the period. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Shares of HRL stock opened at $29.40 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $16.12 billion, a PE ratio of 20.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.26. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Hormel Foods Co. has a 52-week low of $28.51 and a 52-week high of $36.86.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 6.52%. Hormel Foods’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.40 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.58 EPS for the current year.

Hormel Foods Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a dividend of $0.282 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.84%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on HRL. BNP Paribas began coverage on Hormel Foods in a research report on Monday, October 21st. They set an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price target for the company. Citigroup raised Hormel Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Stephens started coverage on Hormel Foods in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hormel Foods news, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the business’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 transaction of $312,718.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 30,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $976,094.99. The trade was a 24.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,313,850.95. This trade represents a 41.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 71,400 shares of company stock worth $2,288,338. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

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.