Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Has $38.36 Million Stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 15.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,209,962 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 161,431 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.22% of Hormel Foods worth $38,356,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 9,649 shares of the company's stock valued at $306,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in Hormel Foods by 1.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 31,499 shares of the company's stock valued at $959,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 4.8% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 9,108 shares of the company's stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 11,156 shares of the company's stock valued at $354,000 after buying an additional 424 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 13,690 shares of the company's stock valued at $434,000 after buying an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on HRL shares. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Hormel Foods in a research note on Monday, October 21st. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $31.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective 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, November 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $31.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total value of $327,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,050 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,276,935. This trade represents a 20.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Steven J. Lykken bought 4,904 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $32.47 per share, for a total transaction of $159,232.88. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president now directly owns 7,100 shares in the company, valued at $230,537. The trade was a 223.32 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 71,400 shares of company stock valued at $2,288,338 in the last 90 days. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hormel Foods Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of HRL stock traded up $0.38 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $33.56. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,392,671 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,597,984. Hormel Foods Co. has a one year low of $28.51 and a one year high of $36.86. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $31.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.43. The company has a market cap of $18.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.14 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 10.95% and a net margin of 6.75%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 13th will be paid a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.46%. This is an increase from Hormel Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 13th. Hormel Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.