Vest Financial LLC Buys 322,645 Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 26.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,560,847 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 322,645 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $49,479,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in Hormel Foods by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 9,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $346,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in Hormel Foods by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 31,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $959,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in 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 valued at $708,000 after acquiring an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. Viawealth LLC lifted its position in Hormel Foods by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Viawealth LLC now owns 17,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $598,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Hormel Foods by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 41,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,273,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HRL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup raised shares of Hormel Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $33.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president now owns 30,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $976,094.99. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $976,094.99. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 72,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,313,850.95. This represents a 0.00 % 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. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

NYSE HRL traded up $0.63 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $32.19. 2,855,583 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,636,516. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $28.51 and a 1 year high of $36.86. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.50.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.90 billion for 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 for the quarter was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Hormel Foods Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a $0.282 dividend. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio is 80.71%.

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.