Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Barclays

Barclays upgraded shares of Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on HRL. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Hormel Foods in a research note on Monday, October 21st. They set an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price target for the company. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.17.

Hormel Foods Trading Down 1.7 %

Hormel Foods stock opened at $30.35 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.26. Hormel Foods 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $31.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.46.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.14 billion. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.75% and a return on equity of 10.95%. The company’s revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Hormel Foods will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 13th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 13th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.82%. This is a boost from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hormel Foods

In other news, VP Steven J. Lykken bought 4,904 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $32.47 per share, with a total value of $159,232.88. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $230,537. The trade was a 223.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hormel Foods

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Holocene Advisors LP grew its holdings in Hormel Foods by 56.0% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,237,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,934,000 after buying an additional 802,816 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 86.4% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,602,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,867,000 after acquiring an additional 742,859 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,068,102 shares of the company’s stock worth $794,659,000 after acquiring an additional 617,308 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Hormel Foods by 24.0% during the second 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 during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Hormel Foods by 59.1% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,244,448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,470,000 after acquiring an additional 462,283 shares during the period. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.