Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Short Interest Up 6.8% in January

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on HRL shares. Barclays upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Hormel Foods in a research note on Monday, October 21st. They set an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hormel Foods currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.17.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HRL traded down $0.06 on Tuesday, reaching $29.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 775,224 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,731,791. Hormel Foods has a 52-week low of $28.51 and a 52-week high of $36.86. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $31.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.44. 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 capitalization of $16.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.23, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.26.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $3.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Hormel Foods will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.29 per share. This is an increase from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 13th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.93%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hormel Foods news, VP Steven J. Lykken purchased 4,904 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 acquisition, the vice president now owns 7,100 shares in the company, valued at $230,537. This trade represents a 223.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hormel Foods

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HRL. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,068,102 shares of the company’s stock worth $794,659,000 after acquiring an additional 617,308 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Hormel Foods by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,362,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $232,646,000 after purchasing an additional 120,212 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in Hormel Foods by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 3,267,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,570,000 after purchasing an additional 162,577 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 56.0% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,237,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,934,000 after purchasing an additional 802,816 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 3.7% during 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

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.