Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Short Interest Update

Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,790,000 shares, an increase of 6.8% from the December 15th total of 11,040,000 shares. Approximately 4.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,320,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.1 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Steven J. Lykken acquired 4,904 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $32.47 per share, with a total value of $159,232.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $230,537. This trade represents a 223.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hormel Foods

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Hormel Foods by 202.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 94,599 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,884,000 after acquiring an additional 63,313 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 142.3% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 4,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,000 after purchasing an additional 2,895 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 864,858 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,370,000 after buying an additional 33,998 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Hormel Foods by 24.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,976,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,738,000 after buying an additional 575,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in Hormel Foods by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 31,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $959,000 after buying an additional 384 shares during the period. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Hormel Foods Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE HRL traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $29.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,515,109 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,918,130. Hormel Foods has a 52 week low of $28.51 and a 52 week high of $36.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market cap of $16.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.26. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.47.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $3.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Hormel Foods will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 13th will be issued a $0.29 dividend. This is an increase from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 13th. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is presently 77.40%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Monday, October 21st. They set an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock. Stephens began coverage on Hormel Foods in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.00.

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.