Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Shares Acquired by Keynote Financial Services LLC

Keynote Financial Services LLC boosted its position in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 3.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,202 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 472 shares during the quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empirical Finance LLC grew its stake in Hormel Foods by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 9,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 1.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 31,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $959,000 after buying an additional 384 shares during the last quarter. Viawealth LLC raised its holdings in Hormel Foods by 2.4% in the first 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. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Hormel Foods by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 41,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,273,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accredited Investors Inc. grew its holdings in Hormel Foods by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 13,925 shares of the company’s stock worth $425,000 after acquiring an additional 533 shares in the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on HRL shares. Citigroup raised 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 report on Tuesday, August 13th. Stephens began coverage on Hormel Foods in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 target price for the company. Finally, BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Hormel Foods in a report on Monday, October 21st. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.57.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hormel Foods

In related news, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.95, for a total transaction of $1,648,620.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 72,421 shares in the company, valued at $2,313,850.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 72,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,313,850.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were 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 $1,276,935. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 71,400 shares of company stock valued at $2,288,338 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Hormel Foods Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE HRL opened at $30.26 on Friday. Hormel Foods Co. has a 12-month low of $28.51 and a 12-month high of $36.86. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.17. The company has a market cap of $16.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.26.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.40 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.58 EPS for the current year.

Hormel Foods Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a $0.282 dividend. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.58%.

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.