Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Shares Sold by Kentucky Retirement Systems

Kentucky Retirement Systems trimmed its position in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 5.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 22,010 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,164 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $768,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Hormel Foods in the fourth quarter valued at $62,323,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Hormel Foods by 97.8% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,900,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,151,000 after buying an additional 1,434,437 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 5,638,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,729,000 after acquiring an additional 505,942 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 40.6% during the 1st quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 1,221,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,606,000 after acquiring an additional 352,896 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 62.9% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 582,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,322,000 after acquiring an additional 224,978 shares during the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on HRL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Hormel Foods from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, May 31st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Hormel Foods from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Friday, May 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.67.

Hormel Foods Stock Down 0.1 %

HRL stock traded down $0.02 during trading on Monday, reaching $31.99. The stock had a trading volume of 604,536 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,766,111. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $31.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.53. The company has a market capitalization of $17.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.86, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.24. Hormel Foods Co. has a 1-year low of $28.51 and a 1-year high of $41.73.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 6.37%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.2825 per share. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 15th. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 80.71%.

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.