Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Shares Purchased by Stifel Financial Corp

Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 5.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,267,186 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 162,577 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp owned about 0.60% of Hormel Foods worth $103,570,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 4.4% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 818,417 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,944,000 after buying an additional 34,589 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 13.1% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 452,510 shares of the company's stock valued at $14,345,000 after buying an additional 52,457 shares in the last quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC grew its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.9% in the third quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 924,365 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,302,000 after buying an additional 26,390 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 3.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,846,936 shares of the company's stock valued at $58,548,000 after buying an additional 66,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qsemble Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods in the third quarter valued at about $1,025,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on HRL shares. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Stephens started coverage on Hormel Foods in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. Finally, BNP Paribas started coverage on Hormel Foods in a research note on Monday, October 21st. They set an "underperform" rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $31.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 39,050 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,276,935. This trade represents a 20.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.95, for a total value of $1,648,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 72,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,313,850.95. This trade represents a 41.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 71,400 shares of company stock valued at $2,288,338 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.69% of the company's stock.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

NYSE:HRL traded down $0.40 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $32.46. 2,147,632 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,598,719. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.54. Hormel Foods Co. has a 52 week low of $28.51 and a 52 week high of $36.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.26.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 6.52%. The firm had revenue of $3.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.58 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 13th. This is an increase from Hormel Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Hormel Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.