Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Sells 1,838 Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. lessened its stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 36.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,245 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,838 shares during the quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $104,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 10.1% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 13,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $712,000 after acquiring an additional 1,273 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 4.0% during the first quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 37,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,954,000 after acquiring an additional 1,468 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 6.6% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 37,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,946,000 after acquiring an additional 2,339 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 7.3% during the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 8,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $463,000 after acquiring an additional 611 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 0.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,030,288 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,640,000 after acquiring an additional 8,636 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on HRL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Hormel Foods from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Barclays increased their price target on Hormel Foods from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Hormel Foods from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Hormel Foods from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Hormel Foods in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $31.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hormel Foods presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.00.

Insider Transactions at Hormel Foods

In related news, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.95, for a total transaction of $349,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,352,844.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.95, for a total transaction of $349,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,352,844.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Mark A. Coffey sold 15,400 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $539,000.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 68,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,381,015. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 40,800 shares of company stock valued at $1,414,872 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

Hormel Foods stock opened at $34.75 on Friday. Hormel Foods Co. has a one year low of $28.51 and a one year high of $41.73. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $33.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.49 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.80, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.27.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.07. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.51% and a net margin of 6.55%. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.91 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Hormel Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a $0.2825 dividend. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is currently 77.40%.

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.