Empower Advisory Group LLC Increases Stock Position in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,038 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Hormel Foods in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Hormel Foods in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hormel Foods in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Hormel Foods in the third quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 47.5% in the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 638 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HRL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays raised shares of Hormel Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $31.00 price target on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.17.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Shares of HRL stock opened at $28.56 on Thursday. Hormel Foods Co. has a one year low of $28.03 and a one year high of $36.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 2.32. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $30.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.26.

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 business had revenue of $3.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. Hormel Foods’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 13th were paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. This is an increase from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, January 13th. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is currently 79.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hormel Foods news, VP Steven J. Lykken acquired 4,904 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $32.47 per share, for a total transaction of $159,232.88. Following the completion of the purchase, the vice president now directly owns 7,100 shares in the company, valued at $230,537. This represents a 223.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.