Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the six analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $32.33.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on HRL. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $32.00 price target on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Friday, May 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $28.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of 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 research note on Tuesday, August 13th.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

HRL stock opened at $32.57 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.89. Hormel Foods has a 52 week low of $28.51 and a 52 week high of $39.58. The stock has a market cap of $17.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.25. 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 (NYSE:HRL) last issued its earnings results 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 6.37% and a return on equity of 11.31%. The company had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Hormel Foods will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Hormel Foods in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $62,323,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 97.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,900,989 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,151,000 after acquiring an additional 1,434,437 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in Hormel Foods by 86.4% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,602,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,867,000 after acquiring an additional 742,859 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Hormel Foods by 24.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,976,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,738,000 after purchasing an additional 575,378 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 5,638,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,729,000 after purchasing an additional 505,942 shares during the period. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.