Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 634,630 Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 20.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,751,307 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 634,630 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.68% of Hormel Foods worth $117,674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of HRL. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 67.7% during the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 13,260 shares of the company's stock valued at $416,000 after purchasing an additional 5,353 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its stake in Hormel Foods by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 253,163 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,938,000 after buying an additional 41,041 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 780,732 shares of the company's stock worth $24,492,000 after acquiring an additional 86,685 shares in the last quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan acquired a new stake in Hormel Foods in the fourth quarter worth about $52,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd grew its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 251.1% during the fourth quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 25,361 shares of the company's stock worth $796,000 after acquiring an additional 18,138 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HRL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $29.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Stephens reiterated an "equal weight" rating and set a $31.00 price objective on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Barclays raised Hormel Foods from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $32.33.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

NYSE HRL opened at $29.68 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.33, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.31. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 2.32. Hormel Foods Co. has a fifty-two week low of $27.59 and a fifty-two week high of $36.86.

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be issued a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. Hormel Foods's payout ratio is presently 84.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Elsa A. Murano sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.40, for a total transaction of $136,800.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 95,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,902,835.20. This represents a 4.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

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.

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