Retirement Systems of Alabama Has $2 Million Stock Holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Retirement Systems of Alabama reduced its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 63,030 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $1,998,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in Hormel Foods during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Hormel Foods during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Hormel Foods in the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Hormel Foods in the second quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Hormel Foods by 516.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 1,132 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hormel Foods

In other Hormel Foods news, VP Steven J. Lykken purchased 4,904 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $32.47 per share, for a total transaction of $159,232.88. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,100 shares in the company, valued at $230,537. This represents a 223.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on HRL shares. Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Hormel Foods in a report on Monday, October 21st. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.29.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

HRL opened at $31.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.26. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.42. Hormel Foods Co. has a one year low of $28.51 and a one year high of $36.86.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 4th. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $3.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.14 billion. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.75% and a return on equity of 10.95%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. This is a boost from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 13th. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is currently 79.45%.

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.