Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Given Consensus Rating of “Reduce” by Analysts

Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) have been given a consensus rating of “Reduce” by the six research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and five have issued a hold recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $31.67.

HRL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $32.00 price objective on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Friday, May 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Hormel Foods from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 31st.

Institutional Trading of Hormel Foods

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 154,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,959,000 after acquiring an additional 11,026 shares during the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV bought a new position in Hormel Foods in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,021,000. Qsemble Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods during the fourth quarter worth about $1,181,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 31,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,026,000 after buying an additional 1,443 shares during the period. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in Hormel Foods in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,694,000. Institutional investors own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HRL opened at $31.18 on Friday. Hormel Foods has a 12-month low of $28.51 and a 12-month high of $41.73. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $31.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.53. The firm has a market cap of $17.09 billion, a PE ratio of 22.27, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last issued its quarterly 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 the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 6.37%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.40 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Hormel Foods will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Hormel Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.2825 per share. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.