Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) Shares Sold by GAMMA Investing LLC

GAMMA Investing LLC cut its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) by 43.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,456 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,612 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $107,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Exeter Financial LLC lifted its stake in Hormel Foods by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Exeter Financial LLC now owns 16,809 shares of the company’s stock valued at $520,000 after buying an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Hormel Foods by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 17,718 shares of the company’s stock valued at $548,000 after buying an additional 458 shares in the last quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Hormel Foods by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 44,473 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,395,000 after buying an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Hormel Foods by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,000 after buying an additional 469 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP lifted its stake in Hormel Foods by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP now owns 17,239 shares of the company’s stock valued at $541,000 after buying an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Hormel Foods from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Hormel Foods from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. 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 note on Tuesday, April 15th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $31.00 target price on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $35.00 target price on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hormel Foods currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.86.

Hormel Foods Trading Down 0.4%

HRL opened at $30.69 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.05. Hormel Foods Corporation has a 1-year low of $27.59 and a 1-year high of $33.80.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.35. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.27% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. Analysts expect that Hormel Foods Corporation will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 14th. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is presently 85.29%.

Hormel Foods 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.