Avior Wealth Management LLC Decreases Position in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Avior Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 18.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,610 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,063 shares during the quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $148,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Hormel Foods in the first quarter valued at about $41,000. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 62.9% in the third quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 397 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 24.4% in the first quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 1,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Dark Forest Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 387.0% in the first quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 1,841 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 1,463 shares during the period. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 61.5% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,062 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 785 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Hormel Foods Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE HRL opened at $34.74 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $33.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.44. The company has a market cap of $19.03 billion, a PE ratio of 23.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.27. Hormel Foods Co. has a 52-week low of $28.51 and a 52-week high of $41.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.49.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.07. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.55% and a return on equity of 11.51%. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.2825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is 77.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hormel Foods

In other Hormel Foods news, VP Mark A. Coffey sold 15,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.18, for a total transaction of $526,372.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 68,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,325,231.22. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Hormel Foods news, VP Mark A. Coffey sold 15,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.18, for a total value of $526,372.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 68,029 shares in the company, valued at $2,325,231.22. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.95, for a total transaction of $349,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,352,844.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 40,800 shares of company stock valued at $1,414,872. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HRL has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Hormel Foods from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Hormel Foods from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Hormel Foods from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $31.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Hormel Foods from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.00.

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.