Advisors Asset Management Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 69.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 11,451 shares of the company’s stock after selling 26,593 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $363,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,141 shares of the company’s stock worth $388,000 after buying an additional 629 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Hormel Foods by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 404,445 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,112,000 after purchasing an additional 17,208 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Hormel Foods by 391.3% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 182,373 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,360,000 after purchasing an additional 145,255 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Hormel Foods in the 1st quarter valued at about $242,000. Finally, Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 13.5% in the 1st quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 12,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $436,000 after buying an additional 1,488 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Hormel Foods Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE HRL opened at $31.92 on Friday. Hormel Foods Co. has a 12 month low of $28.51 and a 12 month high of $36.86. The company has a market capitalization of $17.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $30.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.66.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 6.52%. The business’s revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 13th. This is a positive change from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.58%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total value of $327,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 39,050 shares in the company, valued at $1,276,935. The trade was a 20.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 30,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $976,094.99. This represents a 24.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 71,400 shares of company stock valued at $2,288,338 in the last ninety days. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on HRL shares. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Monday, October 21st. They set an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Hormel Foods presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.29.

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.