Achmea Investment Management B.V. Acquires New Shares in Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL)

Achmea Investment Management B.V. bought a new position in Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 16,115 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $499,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,241,219 shares of the company's stock worth $1,168,257,000 after acquiring an additional 268,328 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,843,207 shares of the company's stock worth $246,041,000 after purchasing an additional 533,657 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Hormel Foods by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,461,100 shares of the company's stock worth $233,459,000 after purchasing an additional 98,442 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in Hormel Foods by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 6,072,682 shares of the company's stock worth $190,500,000 after purchasing an additional 413,669 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Hormel Foods by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,488,678 shares of the company's stock valued at $140,810,000 after buying an additional 261,742 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.99% of the company's stock.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HRL traded down $0.21 during trading on Monday, reaching $30.26. 2,979,333 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,677,403. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.33. Hormel Foods Corporation has a 52-week low of $27.59 and a 52-week high of $33.80. The company has a 50-day moving average of $30.10 and a 200-day moving average of $30.10.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.27% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The company's quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Hormel Foods Corporation will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 14th will be issued a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 14th. Hormel Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on HRL. Stephens restated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $31.00 target price on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Hormel Foods in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America raised Hormel Foods from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the company from $29.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Hormel Foods from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hormel Foods presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $32.86.

Hormel Foods Company Profile

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.