Exeter Financial LLC Acquires 2,153 Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Exeter Financial LLC grew its holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 15.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,428 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,153 shares during the period. Exeter Financial LLC’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $515,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its position in Hormel Foods by 56.0% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,237,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,934,000 after purchasing an additional 802,816 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 86.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,602,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,867,000 after buying an additional 742,859 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,068,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $794,659,000 after acquiring an additional 617,308 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Hormel Foods by 24.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,976,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,738,000 after acquiring an additional 575,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Hormel Foods by 59.1% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,244,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,470,000 after acquiring an additional 462,283 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HRL. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Monday, October 21st. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup cut their price target on Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Stephens assumed coverage on Hormel Foods in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hormel Foods has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.00.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HRL opened at $30.23 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $16.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.26. Hormel Foods Co. has a 52-week low of $28.51 and a 52-week high of $36.86. 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’s fifty day moving average is $31.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.49.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 10.95% and a net margin of 6.75%. Hormel Foods’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, January 13th will be issued a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 13th. This is a positive change from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.84%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.45%.

Insider Activity 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 shares were bought at an average cost of $32.47 per share, with a total value of $159,232.88. Following the completion of the purchase, the vice president now directly owns 7,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $230,537. The trade was a 223.32 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.72% of the stock is owned by 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.