Shell Asset Management Co. Has $1.04 Million Stock Holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Shell Asset Management Co. reduced its stake in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 30.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 29,822 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,886 shares during the period. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $1,040,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of HRL. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Hormel Foods by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 5,638,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $196,729,000 after purchasing an additional 505,942 shares in the last quarter. Mairs & Power Inc. boosted its position in Hormel Foods by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Mairs & Power Inc. now owns 5,459,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $175,290,000 after acquiring an additional 108,944 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 97.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,900,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,151,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434,437 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,654,609 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,239,000 after purchasing an additional 144,605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Hormel Foods by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,583,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,963,000 after purchasing an additional 196,460 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HRL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $32.00 price target on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Citigroup dropped 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hormel Foods presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.67.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HRL traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $31.92. 303,351 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,772,284. Hormel Foods Co. 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 $31.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.50 billion, a PE ratio of 22.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.24.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.37% and a return on equity of 11.31%. 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 business posted $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be given a dividend of $0.2825 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 15th. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.54%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.71%.

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.