Commerce Bank Sells 767 Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Commerce Bank lessened its position in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 29,661 shares of the company’s stock after selling 767 shares during the period. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $940,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in HRL. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 86.4% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,602,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,867,000 after purchasing an additional 742,859 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 24.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,976,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,738,000 after purchasing an additional 575,378 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 59.1% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,244,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,470,000 after purchasing an additional 462,283 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 15.4% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,089,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,210,000 after purchasing an additional 412,313 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 328.3% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 514,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,297,000 after acquiring an additional 394,068 shares during the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hormel Foods Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE HRL opened at $30.67 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 2.29. The company has a market capitalization of $16.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.26. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.71. Hormel Foods Co. has a one year low of $28.51 and a one year high of $36.86.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 11.03%. Hormel Foods’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.40 EPS. Equities analysts forecast 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 given a dividend of $0.282 per share. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total transaction of $327,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,276,935. The trade was a 20.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.91, for a total transaction of $312,718.00. Following the completion of 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 71,400 shares of company stock valued at $2,288,338. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HRL. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Monday, October 21st. They set an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. Finally, Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.29.

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.