Oak Thistle LLC Makes New $610,000 Investment in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 17,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $610,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 30.5% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 12,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $467,000 after acquiring an additional 2,867 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 154,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,959,000 after purchasing an additional 11,026 shares in the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,021,000. Qsemble Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Hormel Foods during the fourth quarter worth $1,181,000. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 31,967 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,026,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443 shares in the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hormel Foods Stock Down 0.2 %

HRL stock traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $30.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,159,422 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,896,961. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Hormel Foods Co. has a twelve month low of $28.51 and a twelve month high of $41.73. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $33.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.74, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.25.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.37% and a return on equity of 11.31%. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.40 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Hormel Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be paid a $0.2825 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is currently 80.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on HRL. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $32.00 price objective on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Hormel Foods from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Hormel Foods from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday, May 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hormel Foods presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.67.

Hormel Foods Profile

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.