Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) Earns Underperform Rating from Analysts at BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage issued an underperform rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on HRL. Stephens started coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 target price for the company. Citigroup upgraded Hormel Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.57.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HRL opened at $31.19 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.42. The company has a market cap of $17.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.28, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.25. Hormel Foods has a one year low of $28.51 and a one year high of $36.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 11.03%. Hormel Foods’s revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Hormel Foods will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a $0.282 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.62%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hormel Foods

In other news, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 72,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,313,850.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $2,313,850.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total transaction of $327,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,050 shares in the company, valued at $1,276,935. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 71,400 shares of company stock worth $2,288,338. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hormel Foods

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HRL. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in Hormel Foods by 1.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 31,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $959,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares during the period. 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 valued at $708,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the period. Viawealth LLC increased its holdings in Hormel Foods by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Viawealth LLC now owns 17,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $598,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 485 shares during the period. 40.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.