Captrust Financial Advisors Sells 1,290 Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Captrust Financial Advisors lessened its position in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 9.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,400 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,290 shares during the quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $389,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Hormel Foods by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,241,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,168,257,000 after purchasing an additional 268,328 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,843,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,041,000 after acquiring an additional 533,657 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,461,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,459,000 after acquiring an additional 98,442 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp grew its position in Hormel Foods by 33.9% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 4,374,456 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,227,000 after acquiring an additional 1,107,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Hormel Foods by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,751,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,674,000 after purchasing an additional 634,630 shares during the period. 40.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on HRL shares. Barclays raised shares of Hormel Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $31.00 price objective on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Hormel Foods from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $29.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hormel Foods currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.33.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Shares of Hormel Foods stock opened at $30.14 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $29.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.29. The firm has a market cap of $16.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.34. Hormel Foods Co. has a 12 month low of $27.59 and a 12 month high of $36.86.

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 14th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.67%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Elsa A. Murano sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.40, for a total transaction of $136,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 95,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,902,835.20. This represents a 4.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

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.