State of Alaska Department of Revenue Increases Position in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 96.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 66,136 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 32,410 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue's holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $2,074,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Hormel Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at $272,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 516.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 1,132 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 257.6% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 52,623 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,668,000 after acquiring an additional 37,908 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 120,651 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,825,000 after acquiring an additional 9,127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, QV Investors Inc. increased its holdings in Hormel Foods by 0.3% in the third quarter. QV Investors Inc. now owns 272,060 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,624,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Hormel Foods

In other news, VP Steven J. Lykken bought 4,904 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $32.47 per share, with a total value of $159,232.88. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $230,537. This represents a 223.32 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays upgraded Hormel Foods from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Hormel Foods in a report on Monday, October 21st. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $31.17.

Hormel Foods Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of HRL stock traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $28.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,791,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,903,554. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $30.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.27. Hormel Foods Co. has a 52 week low of $28.27 and a 52 week high of $36.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 2.32. The company has a market cap of $15.63 billion, a PE ratio of 19.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.26.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 4th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 10.95% and a net margin of 6.75%. The business had revenue of $3.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, January 13th will be given a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.08%. This is a positive change from Hormel Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 13th. Hormel Foods's payout ratio is presently 79.45%.

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.