BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. Boosts Holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its position in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 14.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 56,937 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,075 shares during the quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $1,736,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HRL. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Hormel Foods during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,195,000. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in Hormel Foods by 21.1% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,069 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC purchased a new stake in Hormel Foods in the fourth quarter worth $200,000. Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 41.0% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 47,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,526,000 after purchasing an additional 13,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods during the fourth quarter valued at $259,000. Institutional investors own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Hormel Foods Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE HRL opened at $32.55 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.83. Hormel Foods Co. has a one year low of $28.51 and a one year high of $40.12. The company has a market capitalization of $17.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.73.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.37% and a return on equity of 11.31%. Hormel Foods’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on HRL. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $32.00 price target on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Friday, May 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Hormel Foods from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Hormel Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $33.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hormel Foods has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.33.

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.