Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Shares Sold by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,400 shares of the company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $500,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HRL. GYL Financial Synergies LLC grew its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC now owns 16,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $511,000 after buying an additional 888 shares during the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 25.6% during the second quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 98,191 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,994,000 after purchasing an additional 19,984 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 0.7% during the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 131,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,013,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares in the last quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 25.6% in the 2nd quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 810,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,699,000 after purchasing an additional 165,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accredited Investors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 13,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $425,000 after purchasing an additional 533 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Shares of HRL opened at $32.55 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 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 1 year low of $28.51 and a 1 year high of $40.12. The company’s fifty day moving average is $31.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.75.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.37% and a return on equity of 11.31%. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

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.