Fifth Third Bancorp Buys 976 Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 131,615 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 976 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $4,013,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of HRL. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 154,437 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,959,000 after purchasing an additional 11,026 shares during the period. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV bought a new position in Hormel Foods during the 4th quarter worth $1,021,000. Qsemble Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods during the fourth quarter worth $1,181,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 31,967 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,026,000 after buying an additional 1,443 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,694,000. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

Shares of HRL stock traded up $0.11 on Wednesday, hitting $32.44. 1,525,422 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,703,613. The company has a 50 day moving average of $31.25 and a 200 day moving average of $32.67. The stock has a market cap of $17.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Hormel Foods Co. has a 12 month low of $28.51 and a 12 month high of $40.12.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on HRL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Hormel Foods from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Citigroup raised Hormel Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.33.

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.