Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Shares Sold by White Pine Capital LLC

White Pine Capital LLC cut its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,593 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,545 shares during the quarter. White Pine Capital LLC’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $960,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,068,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $794,659,000 after purchasing an additional 617,308 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,362,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $232,646,000 after purchasing an additional 120,212 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 5.2% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 3,267,186 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,570,000 after acquiring an additional 162,577 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 56.0% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,237,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,934,000 after purchasing an additional 802,816 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Hormel Foods by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,846,936 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,548,000 after acquiring an additional 66,261 shares in the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Hormel Foods

In related news, VP Steven J. Lykken bought 4,904 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $32.47 per share, with a total value 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. The trade was a 223.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Hormel Foods in a research note on Monday, October 21st. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Hormel Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.17.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HRL opened at $28.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 1.19. Hormel Foods Co. has a fifty-two week low of $28.27 and a fifty-two week high of $36.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.69 billion, a PE ratio of 19.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.26. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $30.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.32.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 4th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.14 billion. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.75% and a return on equity of 10.95%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 13th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.06%. This is an increase from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 13th. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.45%.

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.