Harbour Investments Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Harbour Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 485.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,169 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,892 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc.’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $608,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 21.8% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 571,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,931,000 after purchasing an additional 102,141 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 26.2% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 735,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,418,000 after acquiring an additional 152,800 shares during the period. Appian Way Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods in the 2nd quarter worth $11,811,000. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 110.8% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 37,228 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,135,000 after acquiring an additional 19,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 4.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 404,445 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,112,000 after acquiring an additional 17,208 shares during the period. 40.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on HRL shares. BNP Paribas began coverage on Hormel Foods in a report on Monday, October 21st. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup raised Hormel Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $33.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Stephens began coverage on Hormel Foods in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.57.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

HRL stock opened at $29.21 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $31.29 and a 200-day moving average of $31.98. The company has a market cap of $16.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.30, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Hormel Foods Co. has a 12-month low of $28.51 and a 12-month high of $36.86.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 6.52%. Hormel Foods’s revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a $0.282 dividend. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.58%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.91, for a total transaction of $312,718.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 30,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $976,094.99. This trade represents a 24.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.95, for a total transaction of $1,648,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 72,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,313,850.95. The trade was a 41.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 71,400 shares of company stock worth $2,288,338 over the last ninety days. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.