Wells Fargo & Company MN Decreases Stock Holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Wells Fargo & Company MN lessened its position in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 41.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 132,697 shares of the company's stock after selling 92,430 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN's holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $4,163,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Hormel Foods in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Hormel Foods during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 86.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 1,484 shares of the company's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 690 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 91.8% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,523 shares of the company's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 729 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods during the fourth quarter valued at $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Activity

In other Hormel Foods news, Director Elsa A. Murano sold 4,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.40, for a total value of $136,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 95,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,902,835.20. This represents a 4.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Shares of HRL traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $30.81. The company had a trading volume of 2,047,404 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,584,694. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.10, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.31. Hormel Foods Co. has a 52-week low of $27.59 and a 52-week high of $36.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $29.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.77%. Hormel Foods's payout ratio is 84.67%.

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.