WealthPlan Investment Management LLC Boosts Stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

WealthPlan Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 323,313 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,564 shares during the period. Hormel Foods accounts for approximately 1.0% of WealthPlan Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $10,142,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of HRL. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,068,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $794,659,000 after purchasing an additional 617,308 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,362,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $232,646,000 after acquiring an additional 120,212 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 3,267,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,570,000 after acquiring an additional 162,577 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 56.0% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,237,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,934,000 after acquiring an additional 802,816 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 3.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,846,936 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,548,000 after purchasing an additional 66,261 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HRL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Monday, October 21st. They set an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.17.

Hormel Foods Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE HRL opened at $28.47 on Friday. Hormel Foods Co. has a one year low of $28.27 and a one year high of $36.86. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 2.32. The firm has a market cap of $15.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.50, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.26.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.14 billion. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.75% and a return on equity of 10.95%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 13th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 13th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.08%. This is a boost from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is 79.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hormel Foods

In related news, VP Steven J. Lykken acquired 4,904 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $32.47 per share, with a total value of $159,232.88. Following the purchase, the vice president now directly owns 7,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $230,537. The trade was a 223.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.72% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.