13,395 Shares in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Purchased by Redmond Asset Management LLC

Redmond Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 13,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $420,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Hormel Foods in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in Hormel Foods in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Hormel Foods in the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Hormel Foods during the 3rd quarter worth $47,000. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its stake in Hormel Foods by 47.5% during the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,981 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 638 shares during the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Steven J. Lykken acquired 4,904 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $32.47 per share, for a total transaction of $159,232.88. Following the acquisition, the vice president now owns 7,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $230,537. This represents a 223.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on HRL shares. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $31.00 target price on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Hormel Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.17.

Hormel Foods Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of HRL opened at $29.66 on Friday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $30.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.15. Hormel Foods Co. has a 12-month low of $28.03 and a 12-month high of $36.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 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 the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $3.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.14 billion. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.75% and a return on equity of 10.95%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 13th were given a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, January 13th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.91%. This is an increase from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is currently 79.45%.

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.