Victory Capital Management Inc. Grows Position in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 8.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 908,086 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 72,941 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $28,786,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 688.3% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 741 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 647 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hormel Foods during the second quarter valued at $34,000. Central Valley Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Hormel Foods in the second quarter valued at about $37,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods during the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 516.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on HRL shares. Citigroup raised Hormel Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Stephens began coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 price target on the stock. Finally, BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Hormel Foods in a report on Monday, October 21st. They set an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hormel Foods presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $976,094.99. This represents a 24.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.95, for a total value of $1,648,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 72,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,313,850.95. The trade was a 41.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 71,400 shares of company stock valued at $2,288,338 over the last ninety days. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

HRL opened at $29.21 on Monday. Hormel Foods Co. has a 1 year low of $28.51 and a 1 year high of $36.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.89. The firm has a market cap of $16.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.57, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.26.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 6.52%. Hormel Foods’s revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Hormel Foods Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a dividend of $0.282 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is currently 79.58%.

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.