Insider Buying: Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) SVP Acquires $24,999.60 in Stock

Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) SVP Katherine M. Losness-Larson acquired 830 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $30.12 per share, for a total transaction of $24,999.60. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $479,058.60. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Hormel Foods Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:HRL opened at $30.49 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.73. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $33.29 and its 200-day moving average is $32.66. The company has a market cap of $16.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.25. Hormel Foods Co. has a 52-week low of $28.51 and a 52-week high of $41.73.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 6.37%. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.40 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Hormel Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.2825 per share. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 15th. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is currently 80.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $32.00 price target on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Friday, May 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Hormel Foods from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Hormel Foods from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.67.

Institutional Trading of Hormel Foods

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 3.7% during the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 9,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $346,000 after buying an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in Hormel Foods by 21.1% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,069 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 20,291 shares of the company’s stock worth $708,000 after acquiring an additional 389 shares during the period. Viawealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Viawealth LLC now owns 17,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $598,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 9,663 shares of the company’s stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the period. 40.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.