Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Plans $0.29 Quarterly Dividend

Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, May 19th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.29 per share on Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%.

Hormel Foods has raised its dividend by an average of 4.6% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 60 consecutive years. Hormel Foods has a dividend payout ratio of 64.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Hormel Foods to earn $1.84 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 63.0%.

Hormel Foods Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of HRL stock traded down $0.39 on Monday, reaching $30.14. The company had a trading volume of 2,622,250 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,634,452. The company has a 50-day moving average of $29.90 and a 200-day moving average of $30.30. Hormel Foods has a 12 month low of $27.59 and a 12 month high of $36.86. The stock has a market cap of $16.57 billion, a PE ratio of 20.64, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Insider Activity

In other Hormel Foods news, Director Elsa A. Murano sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.40, for a total value of $136,800.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 95,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,902,835.20. The trade was a 4.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hormel Foods

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new position in shares of Hormel Foods during the first quarter valued at about $310,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Hormel Foods by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 57,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,779,000 after buying an additional 993 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP raised its stake in Hormel Foods by 40.8% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 24,583 shares of the company’s stock worth $761,000 after buying an additional 7,129 shares during the period. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on HRL. Barclays upgraded Hormel Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $31.00 price target on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Hormel Foods from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $29.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.33.

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.