Edgestream Partners L.P. Grows Stock Holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its stake in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 248.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 87,779 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 62,560 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P.’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $2,783,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in HRL. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 4.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 404,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,112,000 after purchasing an additional 17,208 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Hormel Foods during the first quarter valued at approximately $242,000. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 188.2% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 79,557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,776,000 after purchasing an additional 51,949 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 688.3% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 741 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 11.2% during the second quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 60,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,840,000 after purchasing an additional 6,065 shares during the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 target price for the company. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Monday, October 21st. They set an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.29.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

HRL opened at $32.43 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $17.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.84, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.26. Hormel Foods Co. has a 1-year low of $28.51 and a 1-year high of $36.86. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

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

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 13th will be given a $0.29 dividend. This is a positive change from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 13th. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.69%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 30,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $976,094.99. The trade was a 24.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.95, for a total transaction of $1,648,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 72,421 shares in the company, valued at $2,313,850.95. This trade represents a 41.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 71,400 shares of company stock worth $2,288,338 over the last three months. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.