Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,330,000 shares, a growth of 31.2% from the October 31st total of 7,110,000 shares. Approximately 3.2% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,350,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.0 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hormel Foods 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 sale, the vice president now owns 30,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $976,094.99. The trade was a 24.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total transaction of $327,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,276,935. This trade represents a 20.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 71,400 shares of company stock valued at $2,288,338. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 3.7% during the third quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 9,649 shares of the company’s stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 31,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $959,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC raised its position in Hormel Foods by 4.8% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 9,108 shares of the company’s stock worth $289,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 11,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 3.5% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 13,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $434,000 after buying an additional 459 shares during the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Hormel Foods Trading Up 1.6 %

HRL traded up $0.51 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $32.43. The stock had a trading volume of 1,904,753 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,588,060. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.26. Hormel Foods 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.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last posted its earnings results 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. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 6.52%. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Hormel Foods will post 1.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 13th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. This is a boost from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 13th. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.58%.

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.