Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Shares Sold by Assetmark Inc.

Assetmark Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 97.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,543 shares of the company's stock after selling 54,817 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.'s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $49,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Hormel Foods by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,089,868 shares of the company's stock valued at $94,210,000 after purchasing an additional 412,313 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Hormel Foods by 24.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,976,257 shares of the company's stock worth $90,738,000 after acquiring an additional 575,378 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Hormel Foods by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,772,481 shares of the company's stock valued at $54,043,000 after acquiring an additional 6,315 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Hormel Foods by 86.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,602,732 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,867,000 after purchasing an additional 742,859 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 26.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 1,560,847 shares of the company's stock worth $49,479,000 after purchasing an additional 322,645 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on HRL. BNP Paribas started coverage on Hormel Foods in a research note on Monday, October 21st. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock. Stephens started coverage on Hormel Foods in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $31.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $31.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.95, for a total value of $1,648,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 72,421 shares in the company, valued at $2,313,850.95. This trade represents a 41.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total transaction of $327,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,050 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,276,935. This trade represents a 20.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 71,400 shares of company stock valued at $2,288,338 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company's stock.

Hormel Foods Trading Up 1.2 %

HRL stock traded up $0.34 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $29.74. The company had a trading volume of 847,052 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,586,482. Hormel Foods Co. has a 52-week low of $28.51 and a 52-week high of $36.86. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.73, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 6.52%. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a dividend of $0.282 per share. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. Hormel Foods's payout ratio is 79.58%.

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.