Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Receives $31.57 Average Target Price from Analysts

Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Reduce" from the seven research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $31.57.

Several analysts recently issued reports on HRL shares. BNP Paribas started coverage on Hormel Foods in a report on Monday, October 21st. They set an "underperform" rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup upgraded Hormel Foods from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Stephens started coverage on Hormel Foods in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hormel Foods news, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were 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 $1,276,935. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total value of $327,000.00. Following the sale, 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 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.91, for a total value of $312,718.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 30,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $976,094.99. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 71,400 shares of company stock valued at $2,288,338 over the last three months. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HRL. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 9.9% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 5,638,546 shares of the company's stock valued at $196,729,000 after purchasing an additional 505,942 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 15.4% in the second 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 grew its holdings in Hormel Foods by 24.0% during 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 period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Hormel Foods by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,772,481 shares of the company's stock worth $54,043,000 after acquiring an additional 6,315 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in Hormel Foods by 86.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,602,732 shares of the company's stock worth $48,867,000 after acquiring an additional 742,859 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.99% of the company's stock.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HRL traded down $0.03 on Friday, reaching $31.06. 1,173,836 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,072,360. Hormel Foods has a fifty-two week low of $28.51 and a fifty-two week high of $36.86. The company's 50 day moving average is $31.76 and its 200-day moving average is $32.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.03 billion, a PE ratio of 21.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

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

Hormel Foods Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.282 per share. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. Hormel Foods's payout ratio is 79.58%.

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.