Vest Financial LLC Raises Holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Vest Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 17.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,825,660 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 264,813 shares during the quarter. Hormel Foods makes up 1.0% of Vest Financial LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Vest Financial LLC owned 0.33% of Hormel Foods worth $57,271,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in HRL. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in Hormel Foods by 110.8% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 37,228 shares of the company's stock worth $1,135,000 after purchasing an additional 19,571 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods in the second quarter valued at about $272,000. Czech National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 7.0% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 59,198 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,877,000 after acquiring an additional 3,884 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 516.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 486,932 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,436,000 after acquiring an additional 13,200 shares during the period. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Hormel Foods

In other Hormel Foods news, VP Steven J. Lykken acquired 4,904 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $32.47 per share, for a total transaction of $159,232.88. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president now owns 7,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $230,537. The trade was a 223.32 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

HRL stock traded down $0.45 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $28.55. The company had a trading volume of 2,661,197 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,813,711. The company has a market cap of $15.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.26. Hormel Foods Co. has a twelve month low of $28.51 and a twelve month 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.34.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 4th. The company reported $0.42 EPS 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 company had revenue of $3.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 13th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 13th. This is a boost from Hormel Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.06%. Hormel Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on HRL. Barclays raised shares of Hormel Foods from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Monday, October 21st. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $31.17.

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.