Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.29 Per Share

Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, November 25th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.29 per share on Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 13th. This is an increase from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28.

Hormel Foods has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.8% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 59 years. Hormel Foods has a payout ratio of 66.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Hormel Foods to earn $1.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.13 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 67.3%.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Shares of HRL stock opened at $31.62 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 2.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.27, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.26. Hormel Foods has a one year low of $28.51 and a one year high of $36.86. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.66.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 6.52%. The business’s revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Hormel Foods will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HRL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Monday, October 21st. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock. Stephens started coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.29.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 72,421 shares in the company, valued at $2,313,850.95. This represents a 41.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.91, for a total value of $312,718.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 30,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $976,094.99. This represents a 24.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 71,400 shares of company stock valued at $2,288,338. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

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.