Fifth Third Bancorp Sells 4,660 Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Fifth Third Bancorp lessened its position in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 3.5% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 127,601 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,660 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $3,948,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Elsa A. Murano sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 95,488 shares in the company, valued at $2,902,835.20. This represents a 4.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HRL opened at $30.55 on Friday. Hormel Foods Co. has a 12 month low of $27.59 and a 12 month high of $33.80. The company has a market cap of $16.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $30.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

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

Hormel Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 14th will be issued a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 14th. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.