Trust Point Inc. Decreases Holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Trust Point Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,432 shares of the company’s stock after selling 997 shares during the period. Trust Point Inc.’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $421,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HRL. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 56.0% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,237,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,934,000 after purchasing an additional 802,816 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 2.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,068,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $794,659,000 after purchasing an additional 617,308 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 328.3% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 514,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,297,000 after buying an additional 394,068 shares in the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 26.1% in the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 1,560,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,479,000 after buying an additional 322,645 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 5.2% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 3,267,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,570,000 after buying an additional 162,577 shares in the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hormel Foods

In related news, VP Steven J. Lykken purchased 4,904 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $32.47 per share, for a total transaction of $159,232.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $230,537. The trade was a 223.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on HRL shares. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Monday, October 21st. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock. Barclays raised shares of Hormel Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.17.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

Hormel Foods stock opened at $29.27 on Thursday. Hormel Foods Co. has a 12-month low of $28.51 and a 12-month high of $36.86. The stock has a market cap of $16.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.04, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $31.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.42. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

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

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 13th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 13th. This is a boost from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.96%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.45%.

Hormel Foods 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.