28,449 Shares in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Bought by Lecap Asset Management Ltd.

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 28,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $902,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Empirical Finance LLC grew its position in Hormel Foods by 3.7% in the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 9,912 shares of the company’s stock worth $346,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 31,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $959,000 after buying an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 20,291 shares of the company’s stock valued at $708,000 after buying an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. Viawealth LLC increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Viawealth LLC now owns 17,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $598,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 41,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,273,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

NYSE HRL opened at $31.19 on Thursday. 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 12-month low of $28.51 and a 12-month high of $36.86. The company has a market capitalization of $17.10 billion, a PE ratio of 22.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $31.81 and its 200-day moving average is $32.42.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 11.03%. The company 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 company earned $0.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a $0.282 dividend. 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 3.62%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.91, for a total transaction of $312,718.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 30,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $976,094.99. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Hormel Foods news, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total transaction of $327,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,276,935. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 30,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $976,094.99. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 71,400 shares of company stock worth $2,288,338. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Monday. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.57.

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.