Townsquare Capital LLC Buys New Stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Townsquare Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 9,156 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $290,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in Hormel Foods by 3.7% during the third quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 9,649 shares of the company’s stock valued at $306,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in Hormel Foods by 1.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 31,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $959,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares during the last quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC lifted its position in Hormel Foods by 3.7% during the third quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC now owns 13,202 shares of the company’s stock valued at $419,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Hormel Foods by 1.2% during the second quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 41,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,273,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accredited Investors Inc. lifted its position in Hormel Foods by 4.0% during the second quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 13,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $425,000 after acquiring an additional 533 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Hormel Foods

In related news, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.91, for a total transaction of $312,718.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 30,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $976,094.99. This trade represents a 24.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.95, for a total transaction of $1,648,620.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 72,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,313,850.95. This represents a 41.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 71,400 shares of company stock worth $2,288,338. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on HRL shares. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Stephens started coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 price target for the company. Finally, BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Monday, October 21st. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price target for the company. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.29.

Hormel Foods Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Hormel Foods stock opened at $32.46 on Friday. 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 has a fifty day moving average price of $31.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.54. Hormel Foods Co. has a 1 year low of $28.51 and a 1 year high of $36.86. The stock has a market cap of $17.80 billion, a PE ratio of 22.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.26.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 6.52%. The business had revenue of $3.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, January 13th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 13th. This is a positive change from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.58%.

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.