Franklin Resources Inc. Raises Stock Position in Hormel Foods Corporation $HRL

Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) by 67.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 296,782 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 119,460 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of Hormel Foods worth $8,978,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its position in Hormel Foods by 69.0% during the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 17,448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $540,000 after acquiring an additional 7,123 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd grew its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 37.2% during the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 5,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $167,000 after purchasing an additional 1,468 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 77,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,385,000 after purchasing an additional 7,534 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Hormel Foods in the 1st quarter worth approximately $494,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 6.3% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 72,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,231,000 after buying an additional 4,291 shares during the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hormel Foods Stock Up 0.3%

HRL opened at $23.29 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $12.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.95 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 2.47. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $23.28 and its 200 day moving average is $26.94. Hormel Foods Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $21.03 and a fifty-two week high of $33.80.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 28th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.98 billion. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.26% and a return on equity of 10.06%. Hormel Foods’s revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Hormel Foods Corporation will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, January 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.2925 per share. This is a boost from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 12th. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio is 85.40%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on HRL shares. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Hormel Foods from $35.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $27.00 target price on Hormel Foods and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Zacks Research lowered Hormel Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Hormel Foods from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.86.

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.