Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Shares Purchased by Public Sector Pension Investment Board

Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 17.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 11,206 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $355,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in HRL. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Hormel Foods in the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hormel Foods during the third quarter worth $39,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Hormel Foods in the second quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Hormel Foods by 516.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 1,132 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HRL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 price target on the stock. Finally, BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Monday, October 21st. They set an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hormel Foods currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.29.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

HRL stock opened at $32.47 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.44. The company has a market capitalization of $17.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.24, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.26. Hormel Foods Co. has a twelve month low of $28.51 and a twelve month high of $36.86. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 4th. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.75% and a return on equity of 10.95%. The business had revenue of $3.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 13th will be paid a $0.29 dividend. This is an increase from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 13th. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.40%.

Insider Activity

In other Hormel Foods news, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 30,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $976,094.99. The trade was a 24.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,276,935. This trade represents a 20.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 71,400 shares of company stock valued at $2,288,338. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

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.