Pitcairn Co. Makes New Investment in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Pitcairn Co. bought a new position in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 9,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $348,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 615.0% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 30,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,052,000 after buying an additional 25,933 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 25.3% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 31,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,111,000 after buying an additional 6,422 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 84.0% during the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 62,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,185,000 after buying an additional 28,594 shares during the period. Viawealth LLC raised its stake 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, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC raised its stake in Hormel Foods by 125.6% in the 1st quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 329,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,498,000 after acquiring an additional 183,450 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HRL traded up $0.33 during trading on Thursday, reaching $31.84. 2,360,621 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,789,669. Hormel Foods Co. has a fifty-two week low of $28.51 and a fifty-two week high of $41.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $17.46 billion, a PE ratio of 22.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.53.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 6.37%. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.40 EPS. Hormel Foods’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be paid a $0.2825 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.55%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on HRL shares. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $32.00 price target on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Citigroup cut their price target on Hormel Foods from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Hormel Foods from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday, May 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Hormel Foods presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.67.

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.