Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Has $4 Million Holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lowered its stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 36.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 127,494 shares of the company's stock after selling 71,975 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina's holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $3,999,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of HRL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $102,598,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 67.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,926,668 shares of the company's stock worth $91,810,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175,087 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,843,207 shares of the company's stock worth $246,041,000 after purchasing an additional 533,657 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp acquired a new position in Hormel Foods in the fourth quarter valued at about $16,612,000. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP bought a new stake in Hormel Foods during the fourth quarter worth about $10,684,000. 40.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on HRL shares. Bank of America upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $29.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and issued a $31.00 target price on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $32.33.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

HRL stock traded down $0.36 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $30.23. 277,590 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,573,942. Hormel Foods Co. has a 52 week low of $27.59 and a 52 week high of $36.86. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $29.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.62 billion, a PE ratio of 20.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.31.

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 14th will be issued a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.84%. Hormel Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Elsa A. Murano sold 4,500 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.40, for a total transaction of $136,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 95,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,902,835.20. The trade was a 4.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.72% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.