Dividend Assets Capital LLC Sells 3,074 Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Dividend Assets Capital LLC cut its stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 14.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,205 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,074 shares during the quarter. Dividend Assets Capital LLC’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $563,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its stake in Hormel Foods by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 9,905 shares of the company’s stock valued at $311,000 after purchasing an additional 934 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 626,360 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,649,000 after buying an additional 20,514 shares during the period. Aviva PLC lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 58.9% in the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 313,619 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,838,000 after acquiring an additional 116,304 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 4,374,456 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,107,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DnB Asset Management AS lifted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 71,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,228,000 after acquiring an additional 9,120 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Hormel Foods

In other news, Director Elsa A. Murano sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.40, for a total transaction of $136,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 95,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,902,835.20. This represents a 4.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hormel Foods Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of NYSE:HRL opened at $31.18 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 2.32. Hormel Foods Co. has a 52 week low of $27.59 and a 52 week high of $33.80. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.29. The company has a market cap of $17.14 billion, a PE ratio of 21.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.33.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.75% and a return on equity of 10.95%. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 14th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 14th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is currently 85.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. BNP Paribas upgraded Hormel Foods from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Bank of America raised Hormel Foods from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $29.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Hormel Foods from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $31.00 price target on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.50.

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.