Sigma Planning Corp Sells 734 Shares of Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL)

Sigma Planning Corp decreased its holdings in Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) by 4.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,439 shares of the company’s stock after selling 734 shares during the quarter. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $509,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 12.0% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 452,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,014,000 after buying an additional 48,657 shares during the period. Aviva PLC lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 116,304 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 33.9% during 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 during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 180.4% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 89,025 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,737,000 after purchasing an additional 57,280 shares during the period. Finally, DnB Asset Management AS raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 71,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,228,000 after purchasing an additional 9,120 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on HRL shares. BNP Paribas raised shares of Hormel Foods from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Bank of America raised shares of Hormel Foods from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $29.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Hormel Foods from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $35.00 target price for the company. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $31.00 target price on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.86.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Shares of HRL stock opened at $29.15 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.43, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $30.31 and its 200 day moving average is $29.98. Hormel Foods Corporation has a 12 month low of $27.59 and a 12 month high of $33.80.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.35. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.27% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The business had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hormel Foods Corporation will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 14th. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.29%.

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.