Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Invests $16.46 Million in Tyson Foods, Inc. $TSN

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 294,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,457,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in Tyson Foods by 175.3% in the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 512 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Tyson Foods by 28,200.0% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 566 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares in the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Tyson Foods by 389.8% during the second quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the period. MTM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Tyson Foods in the second quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Tyson Foods in the second quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors own 67.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on TSN. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Tyson Foods from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Tyson Foods in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $60.00 price target for the company. Santander initiated coverage on Tyson Foods in a report on Thursday, September 25th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Zacks Research raised Tyson Foods from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Tyson Foods in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Tyson Foods news, CFO Curt Calaway sold 6,539 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.19, for a total value of $373,965.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,820,529.27. The trade was a 17.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman John H. Tyson sold 100,301 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.05, for a total value of $5,822,473.05. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 2,989,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $173,535,540.75. The trade was a 3.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 2.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Tyson Foods Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE TSN opened at $59.91 on Monday. Tyson Foods, Inc. has a 1-year low of $50.56 and a 1-year high of $64.36. The company has a 50-day moving average of $54.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.85. The company has a market cap of $21.15 billion, a PE ratio of 45.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $13.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.08 billion. Tyson Foods had a return on equity of 7.95% and a net margin of 0.87%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Tyson Foods, Inc. will post 3.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Tyson Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be issued a $0.51 dividend. This is a positive change from Tyson Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Tyson Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 153.38%.

Tyson Foods Profile

Tyson Foods, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a food company worldwide. It operates through four segments: Beef, Pork, Chicken, and Prepared Foods. The company processes live fed cattle and hogs; fabricates dressed beef and pork carcasses into primal and sub-primal meat cuts, as well as case ready beef and pork, and fully cooked meats; raises and processes chickens into fresh, frozen, and value-added chicken products, including breaded chicken strips, nuggets, patties, and other ready-to-fix or fully cooked chicken parts; and supplies poultry breeding stock.