Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Short Interest Update

Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,110,000 shares, an increase of 7.7% from the May 31st total of 8,460,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,540,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.6 days. Currently, 3.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hormel Foods

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 688.3% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 741 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods in the first quarter worth $31,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods in the first quarter worth $42,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 774.8% in the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 1,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 1,077 shares during the period. Finally, Clarity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods in the fourth quarter worth $54,000. 40.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

NYSE HRL traded down $0.31 on Wednesday, reaching $30.24. 726,986 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,871,132. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $16.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.24. Hormel Foods has a 12 month low of $28.51 and a 12 month high of $41.73.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 6.37%. The company’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.40 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Hormel Foods will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.2825 per share. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 15th. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on HRL. Citigroup lowered their target price on Hormel Foods from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Hormel Foods from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $28.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Friday, May 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.67.

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.