Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Sells 959 Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lessened its stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 1.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 84,458 shares of the company’s stock after selling 959 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $2,947,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Hormel Foods by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 154,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,959,000 after acquiring an additional 11,026 shares during the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in Hormel Foods during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,021,000. Qsemble Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Hormel Foods in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,181,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Hormel Foods by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 31,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,026,000 after buying an additional 1,443 shares during the period. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Hormel Foods during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,694,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HRL opened at $30.24 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $16.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.61, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.73. Hormel Foods Co. has a fifty-two week low of $28.51 and a fifty-two week high of $41.73. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.65.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 6.37%. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be paid a $0.2825 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 15th. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.74%. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is 80.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on HRL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $28.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $32.00 price objective on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Hormel Foods from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.67.

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.