Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) Shares Sold by Vienna Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Vienna Insurance Group

Vienna Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Vienna Insurance Group lessened its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) by 7.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,667 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,698 shares during the quarter. Vienna Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Vienna Insurance Group’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $1,104,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Hormel Foods by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,241,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,168,257,000 after purchasing an additional 268,328 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,843,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,041,000 after acquiring an additional 533,657 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,461,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,459,000 after acquiring an additional 98,442 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 6,072,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,500,000 after acquiring an additional 413,669 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,488,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $140,810,000 after acquiring an additional 261,742 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Hormel Foods Price Performance

Shares of HRL traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $29.71. 125,295 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,138,753. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.34 billion, a PE ratio of 21.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.33. Hormel Foods Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $27.59 and a fifty-two week high of $33.80. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.00.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 6.27%. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Hormel Foods Corporation will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 14th will be issued a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 14th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.90%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.