Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) Lifted to Buy at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $37.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $33.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on HRL. Stephens reiterated an equal weight rating and issued a $32.00 price target on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Friday, May 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from an underweight rating to a neutral rating and upped their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $29.00 in a research 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hormel Foods currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $32.33.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HRL opened at $32.02 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $31.14 and a 200 day moving average of $32.60. 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 market capitalization of $17.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.24. Hormel Foods has a 12-month low of $28.51 and a 12-month high of $40.37.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue 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. On average, research analysts anticipate that Hormel Foods will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Hormel Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th were given a dividend of $0.2825 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 15th. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio is 80.71%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hormel Foods

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HRL. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Hormel Foods during the fourth quarter worth $1,195,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Hormel Foods by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,433 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,138,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Hormel Foods during the fourth quarter valued at $289,000. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in Hormel Foods by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 37,320 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,198,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Hormel Foods during the fourth quarter valued at $263,000. Institutional investors own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

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.