Kentucky Retirement Systems Has $642,000 Stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Kentucky Retirement Systems reduced its position in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,245 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,629 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $642,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 688.3% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 741 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods during the second quarter worth about $34,000. Central Valley Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods during the second quarter worth about $37,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 516.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods during the second quarter worth about $42,000. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup reduced their price target on Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Stephens started coverage on Hormel Foods in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BNP Paribas started coverage on Hormel Foods in a report on Monday, October 21st. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total transaction of $327,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,276,935. This represents a 20.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.91, for a total value of $312,718.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 30,589 shares in the company, valued at $976,094.99. The trade was a 24.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 71,400 shares of company stock worth $2,288,338. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

Hormel Foods stock opened at $29.75 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.95, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.26. Hormel Foods Co. has a 52-week low of $28.51 and a 52-week high of $36.86. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $31.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 2.29.

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

Hormel Foods Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a dividend of $0.282 per share. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is 79.58%.

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.