Weatherly Asset Management L. P. Sells 3,150 Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Weatherly Asset Management L. P. reduced its position in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,480 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,150 shares during the quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P.’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $1,621,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Hormel Foods by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,590 shares of the company’s stock valued at $533,000 after buying an additional 920 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in Hormel Foods by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,775,780 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,020,000 after buying an additional 81,970 shares during the period. Duality Advisers LP bought a new position in Hormel Foods in the 4th quarter valued at about $470,000. MCF Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Hormel Foods by 158.6% in the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 35,006 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,124,000 after buying an additional 21,468 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 154,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,954,000 after purchasing an additional 19,429 shares during the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HRL has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Thursday, February 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $31.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Hormel Foods from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Hormel Foods from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 12th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Hormel Foods from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Hormel Foods from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hormel Foods has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.00.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

NYSE:HRL remained flat at $35.14 during mid-day trading on Tuesday. 1,595,895 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,117,696. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $33.32 and its 200 day moving average is $32.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.49 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Hormel Foods Co. has a twelve month low of $28.51 and a twelve month high of $41.73. The company has a market cap of $19.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.27.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.91 billion. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.55% and a return on equity of 11.51%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.40 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Hormel Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be given a $0.2825 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.40%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Mark A. Coffey sold 15,400 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.18, for a total value of $526,372.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 68,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,325,231.22. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Mark A. Coffey sold 15,400 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.18, for a total value of $526,372.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 68,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,325,231.22. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.95, for a total transaction of $349,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,352,844.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 40,800 shares of company stock worth $1,414,872 in the last quarter. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.