M&G Plc Purchases New Holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

M&G Plc acquired a new position in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 13,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 647 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of Hormel Foods in the first quarter worth about $31,000. Central Valley Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Hormel Foods in the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Hormel Foods during the 1st quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its position in Hormel Foods by 774.8% in the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 1,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 1,077 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Hormel Foods Trading Up 1.8 %

HRL opened at $31.80 on Wednesday. Hormel Foods Co. has a 12 month low of $28.51 and a 12 month high of $41.73. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $31.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.61. The firm has a market cap of $17.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.71, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.37% and a return on equity of 11.31%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.2825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.55%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on HRL shares. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Citigroup raised Hormel Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $33.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Hormel Foods from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, May 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hormel Foods has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.33.

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.