Uncommon Cents Investing LLC Decreases Stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Uncommon Cents Investing LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,900 shares of the company’s stock after selling 980 shares during the quarter. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $1,056,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Hormel Foods during the first quarter valued at $41,000. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 62.9% during the third quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 397 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 24.4% in the first quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 1,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 387.0% in the first quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 1,841 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 1,463 shares during the period. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Hormel Foods by 6,213.3% during the second quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 1,894 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 1,864 shares in the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Hormel Foods

In related news, VP Mark A. Coffey sold 15,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.18, for a total transaction of $526,372.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 68,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,325,231.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Hormel Foods from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Barclays raised their price target on Hormel Foods from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Hormel Foods from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Hormel Foods from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Hormel Foods in a report on Thursday, February 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $31.00 target price for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hormel Foods presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.00.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

HRL opened at $34.89 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a market cap of $19.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.28. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.86. Hormel Foods Co. has a 12-month low of $28.51 and a 12-month high of $41.73.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.07. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.55% and a return on equity of 11.51%. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.91 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th will be given a dividend of $0.2825 per share. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.40%.

About Hormel Foods

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.