Citigroup Has Lowered Expectations for Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) Stock Price

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) had its price objective reduced by Citigroup from $36.00 to $35.00 in a research note released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Stephens assumed coverage on Hormel Foods in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Hormel Foods in a research report on Monday, October 21st. They set an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.29.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Shares of HRL stock opened at $29.75 on Tuesday. Hormel Foods has a 1-year low of $28.51 and a 1-year high of $36.86. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market capitalization of $16.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.26. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.81.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 6.52%. The business had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. Hormel Foods’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Hormel Foods will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a dividend of $0.282 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.79%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.58%.

Insider Transactions at Hormel Foods

In other news, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.91, for a total transaction of $312,718.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 30,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $976,094.99. This represents a 24.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 72,421 shares of the company’s stock, 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 71,400 shares of company stock worth $2,288,338. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hormel Foods

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HRL. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its stake in Hormel Foods by 56.0% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,237,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,934,000 after purchasing an additional 802,816 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Hormel Foods by 86.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,602,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,867,000 after purchasing an additional 742,859 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Hormel Foods by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,068,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $794,659,000 after purchasing an additional 617,308 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Hormel Foods by 24.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,976,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,738,000 after purchasing an additional 575,378 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Hormel Foods by 59.1% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,244,448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,470,000 after purchasing an additional 462,283 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

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.