Brookwood Investment Group LLC Makes New $956,000 Investment in Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL)

Key Points

• Brookwood Investment Group LLC has acquired 30,889 shares of Hormel Foods valued at approximately $956,000, indicating increased interest in the company from institutional investors.
• Analysts have upgraded their ratings for Hormel Foods, with current ratings showing two buy ratings, four hold ratings, and a consensus price target of $32.86.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.29 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $1.16 and a dividend yield of 3.97%.

Brookwood Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 30,889 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $956,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Exeter Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 2.3% during the first quarter. Exeter Financial LLC now owns 16,809 shares of the company's stock valued at $520,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Simmons Bank lifted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 3.7% during the first quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 12,708 shares of the company's stock valued at $393,000 after purchasing an additional 448 shares during the last quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 2.7% during the first quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 17,718 shares of the company's stock valued at $548,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. G&S Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 3.1% during the first quarter. G&S Capital LLC now owns 15,516 shares of the company's stock valued at $480,000 after purchasing an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,312 shares of the company's stock valued at $104,000 after buying an additional 469 shares during the period. 40.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Hormel Foods Price Performance

Shares of HRL stock traded down $0.32 during trading on Monday, hitting $28.93. The company had a trading volume of 664,845 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,103,982. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock's 50-day moving average is $30.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 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.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.35. The company had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.92 billion. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.27% and a return on equity of 10.20%. Hormel Foods's revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Hormel Foods Corporation will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 14th will be paid a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 14th. Hormel Foods's dividend payout ratio is currently 85.29%.

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.