Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.29 Per Share

Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, November 25th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.29 per share on Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.69%. This is an increase from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28.

Hormel Foods has raised its dividend by an average of 5.8% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 59 years. Hormel Foods has a payout ratio of 66.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Hormel Foods to earn $1.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.13 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 67.3%.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

Shares of HRL traded up $0.77 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $31.44. The stock had a trading volume of 4,311,392 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,593,854. Hormel Foods has a 12 month low of $28.51 and a 12 month high of $36.86. The company’s 50-day moving average is $31.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 2.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.24 billion, a PE ratio of 22.14, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.26.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 6.52%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Hormel Foods will post 1.58 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HRL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. Finally, BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Monday, October 21st. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hormel Foods currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hormel Foods

In other news, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total transaction of $327,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 39,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,276,935. This trade represents a 20.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the firm’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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 30,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $976,094.99. This trade represents a 24.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 71,400 shares of company stock valued at $2,288,338. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.