Sky Investment Group LLC Takes Position in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Sky Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 34,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,075,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,241,219 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,168,257,000 after buying an additional 268,328 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,843,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,041,000 after purchasing an additional 533,657 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,461,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,459,000 after purchasing an additional 98,442 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 6,072,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,500,000 after purchasing an additional 413,669 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,488,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $140,810,000 after purchasing an additional 261,742 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on HRL shares. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $31.00 target price on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $29.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hormel Foods news, Director Elsa A. Murano sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.40, for a total transaction of $136,800.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 95,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,902,835.20. This represents a 4.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

NYSE HRL opened at $31.04 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’s fifty day moving average price is $30.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.30. Hormel Foods Co. has a 1 year low of $27.59 and a 1 year high of $33.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.33.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.35. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.75% and a return on equity of 10.95%. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Hormel Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 14th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 14th. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.29%.

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.