Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Purchases 224,978 Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 62.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 582,446 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 224,978 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $20,322,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HRL. Mutual Advisors LLC raised its position in Hormel Foods by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 10,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,610 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its position in Hormel Foods by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 186,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,993,000 after acquiring an additional 28,039 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Hormel Foods by 124.4% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 112,229 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,604,000 after acquiring an additional 62,225 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 70.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 31,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,010,000 after purchasing an additional 13,041 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 29.3% in the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 11,271 shares of the company’s stock valued at $362,000 after purchasing an additional 2,553 shares during the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Shares of HRL stock traded up $0.17 on Friday, hitting $32.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,631,995 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,971,519. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.73. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $31.52 and its 200-day moving average is $32.52. Hormel Foods Co. has a fifty-two week low of $28.51 and a fifty-two week high of $41.73. The company has a market capitalization of $17.55 billion, a PE ratio of 22.86, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.24.

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. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.37% and a return on equity of 11.31%. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. Hormel Foods’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.