MCF Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

MCF Advisors LLC lowered its position in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 48.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,836 shares of the company's stock after selling 15,986 shares during the quarter. MCF Advisors LLC's holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $513,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 9.9% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 5,638,546 shares of the company's stock worth $196,729,000 after buying an additional 505,942 shares during the period. Mairs & Power Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Hormel Foods by 97.8% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,900,989 shares of the company's stock worth $93,151,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434,437 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in Hormel Foods by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,654,609 shares of the company's stock valued at $85,239,000 after buying an additional 144,605 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,583,700 shares of the company's stock worth $82,963,000 after buying an additional 196,460 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Hormel Foods Price Performance

Hormel Foods stock traded up $0.46 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $32.57. 2,687,665 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,711,826. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.73. The stock has a market cap of $17.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $31.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.87. Hormel Foods Co. has a one year low of $28.51 and a one year high of $39.58.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 6.37%. The business had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.