Magnetar Financial LLC Takes Position in Hormel Foods Corporation $HRL

Key Points

• Magnetar Financial LLC acquired 140,471 shares of Hormel Foods Corporation, valued at approximately $4,346,000, as part of its investment strategy in the first quarter.
• Hormel Foods reported a Q3 earnings miss with an EPS of $0.35, falling short of the consensus estimate of $0.41, despite a year-over-year revenue increase of 4.6% to $3.03 billion.
• Several brokerages have adjusted their price targets for Hormel Foods, with Bank of America lowering it from $35.00 to $28.00 and JPMorgan reducing it from $34.00 to $30.00, reflecting cautious sentiments from analysts.

Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 140,471 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,346,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in HRL. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods during the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods during the first quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Riverview Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 183.8% during the first quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 1,572 shares of the company's stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 1,018 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 18.5% during the first quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 3,081 shares of the company's stock valued at $95,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the period. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in Hormel Foods by 34.4% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 3,187 shares of the company's stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 816 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HRL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Hormel Foods from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Hormel Foods from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Hormel Foods from $35.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 29th. Stephens reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $31.00 price objective on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Hormel Foods from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $30.88.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

NYSE:HRL traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $25.17. 1,032,297 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,287,962. Hormel Foods Corporation has a twelve month low of $23.71 and a twelve month high of $33.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.38, a P/E/G ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $28.92 and a 200 day moving average of $29.55.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 28th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.06). Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.26% and a return on equity of 10.06%. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.98 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.37 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Hormel Foods has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.380-0.400 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 1.430-1.450 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Hormel Foods Corporation will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

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.