Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Trims Position in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund decreased its position in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 24.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 138,752 shares of the company’s stock after selling 45,838 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $4,353,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 818,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,944,000 after purchasing an additional 34,589 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 452,510 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,345,000 after buying an additional 52,457 shares during the period. Grandfield & Dodd LLC grew its position in Hormel Foods by 2.9% in the third quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 924,365 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,302,000 after acquiring an additional 26,390 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Hormel Foods by 3.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,846,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,548,000 after acquiring an additional 66,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qsemble Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Hormel Foods in the third quarter valued at $1,025,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hormel Foods

In related news, VP Steven J. Lykken acquired 4,904 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $32.47 per share, with a total value of $159,232.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $230,537. The trade was a 223.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays upgraded Hormel Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $31.00 target price on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup reduced 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.17.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

HRL opened at $29.42 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $30.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.10. Hormel Foods Co. has a 12-month low of $28.03 and a 12-month high of $36.86. The firm has a market cap of $16.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.15, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.26. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $3.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.14 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 10.95% and a net margin of 6.75%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

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.