Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Stake Trimmed by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 9.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,080,331 shares of the company’s stock after selling 558,215 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $154,899,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in HRL. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in Hormel Foods by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 9,912 shares of the company’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in Hormel Foods by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 31,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $959,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its position in Hormel Foods by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 20,291 shares of the company’s stock worth $708,000 after acquiring an additional 389 shares during the period. Viawealth LLC grew its stake in Hormel Foods by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Viawealth LLC now owns 17,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $598,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 9,663 shares of the company’s stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the period. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $32.00 price target on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Friday, May 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.33.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

NYSE HRL opened at $31.77 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.42 billion, a PE ratio of 22.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.25. Hormel Foods Co. has a 12-month low of $28.51 and a 12-month high of $39.58. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $32.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.93.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.90 billion during 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 quarterly 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 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 72,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,313,850.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Hormel Foods news, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total value of $327,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 39,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,276,935. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of Hormel Foods 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 72,421 shares in the company, valued at $2,313,850.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.