Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lessened its stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 12.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 783,828 shares of the company's stock after selling 112,429 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned about 0.14% of Hormel Foods worth $23,899,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 5,638,546 shares of the company's stock valued at $196,729,000 after acquiring an additional 505,942 shares during the last quarter. Mairs & Power Inc. increased its holdings in Hormel Foods by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Mairs & Power Inc. now owns 5,459,039 shares of the company's stock valued at $175,290,000 after purchasing an additional 108,944 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Hormel Foods by 97.8% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,900,989 shares of the company's stock valued at $93,151,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434,437 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in Hormel Foods by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,654,609 shares of the company's stock valued at $85,239,000 after purchasing an additional 144,605 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Hormel Foods by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,583,700 shares of the company's stock valued at $82,963,000 after purchasing an additional 196,460 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.99% of the company's stock.

Hormel Foods Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of HRL stock traded down $0.35 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $32.33. 1,624,772 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,710,976. Hormel Foods Co. has a 1 year low of $28.51 and a 1 year high of $40.12. The company's 50 day moving average is $31.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $17.73 billion, a PE ratio of 23.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.24.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 6.37%. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.40 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on HRL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Hormel Foods from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $28.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, May 31st. Stephens reiterated an "equal weight" rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Hormel Foods from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hormel Foods has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $32.33.

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.