Stephens Initiates Coverage on Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL)

by · The Cerbat Gem

Equities research analysts at Stephens started coverage on shares of Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL – Get Free Report) in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage set an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 price target on the stock. Stephens’ price target would indicate a potential downside of 1.10% from the stock’s current price.

Separately, Citigroup raised Hormel Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Hormel Foods has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.17.

View Our Latest Analysis on HRL

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HRL opened at $31.35 on Thursday. Hormel Foods has a 52 week low of $28.51 and a 52 week high of $38.27. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $32.01 and a 200 day moving average of $32.75. The company has a market capitalization of $17.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.90 billion for 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Hormel Foods will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hormel Foods

In other news, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.91, for a total value of $312,718.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 30,589 shares in the company, valued at $976,094.99. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.91, for a total transaction of $312,718.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 30,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $976,094.99. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.95, for a total transaction of $1,648,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 72,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,313,850.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 71,400 shares of company stock worth $2,288,338. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Hormel Foods by 9.9% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 5,638,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,729,000 after purchasing an additional 505,942 shares during the period. Mairs & Power Inc. grew its stake in Hormel Foods by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Mairs & Power Inc. now owns 5,459,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $175,290,000 after acquiring an additional 108,944 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Hormel Foods by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,089,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,210,000 after acquiring an additional 412,313 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings 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 worth $90,738,000 after acquiring an additional 575,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 97.8% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,900,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,151,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434,437 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

About Hormel Foods

(Get Free Report)

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.

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