Bridgewater Associates LP Cuts Stock Holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Bridgewater Associates LP lowered its stake in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 75,302 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,944 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $2,387,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,089,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,210,000 after acquiring an additional 412,313 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew 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 worth $90,738,000 after purchasing an additional 575,378 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Hormel Foods by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,846,936 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,548,000 after buying an additional 66,261 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,772,481 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,043,000 after buying an additional 6,315 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 86.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,602,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,867,000 after buying an additional 742,859 shares during the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Shares of HRL opened at $32.43 on Friday. Hormel Foods Co. has a 1 year low of $28.51 and a 1 year high of $36.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $31.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.61. The firm has a market cap of $17.78 billion, a PE ratio of 22.84, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.26.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.58 EPS for the current 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 dividend of $0.29 per share. This is a boost from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 13th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is presently 79.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the company’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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 72,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,313,850.95. This represents a 41.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 71,400 shares of company stock worth $2,288,338 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on HRL. Stephens began coverage on Hormel Foods in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 price target for the company. Citigroup lowered their target price on Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, BNP Paribas initiated 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 for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.29.

About Hormel Foods

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.