Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) Now Covered by Analysts at BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) in a research report released on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued an underperform rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Stephens started coverage on Hormel Foods in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup raised Hormel Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hormel Foods currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.57.

Hormel Foods Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of Hormel Foods stock opened at $31.32 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $17.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.25. Hormel Foods has a 12-month low of $28.51 and a 12-month high of $36.86. The business’s 50 day moving average is $31.84 and its 200-day moving average is $32.46.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 6.52%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Hormel Foods will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.282 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is 80.71%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.91, for a total transaction of $312,718.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 30,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $976,094.99. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.95, for a total transaction of $1,648,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 72,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,313,850.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.91, for a total value of $312,718.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 30,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $976,094.99. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 71,400 shares of company stock worth $2,288,338. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hormel Foods

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 5,638,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $196,729,000 after buying an additional 505,942 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,089,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,210,000 after buying an additional 412,313 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 24.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,976,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,738,000 after buying an additional 575,378 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,772,481 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,043,000 after buying an additional 6,315 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 86.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,602,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,867,000 after buying an additional 742,859 shares during the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Hormel Foods Company 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.