AQR Capital Management LLC Purchases 49,057 Shares of Hormel Foods Corporation $HRL

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Hormel Foods Corporation by 6.4%, acquiring an additional 49,057 shares to hold a total of 815,865 shares valued at approximately $25.2 million.
• Recent analyst ratings for Hormel Foods varied, with Zacks Research downgrading it to a "strong sell", while BNP Paribas upgraded it to "neutral" with a target price of $30.00.
• Hormel Foods reported $0.35 EPS, missing consensus estimates, despite a revenue increase of 4.6% year-over-year, totaling $3.03 billion for the quarter.

AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 6.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 815,865 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 49,057 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.15% of Hormel Foods worth $25,235,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted 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 worth $140,810,000 after purchasing an additional 261,742 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Hormel Foods by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,157,026 shares of the company's stock worth $128,594,000 after purchasing an additional 405,719 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Hormel Foods by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,007,461 shares of the company's stock worth $93,051,000 after purchasing an additional 41,236 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Hormel Foods by 9,725.4% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,335,797 shares of the company's stock worth $72,270,000 after purchasing an additional 2,312,024 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. 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 research note on Friday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Hormel Foods from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 29th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Hormel Foods from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $30.88.

Hormel Foods Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of Hormel Foods stock traded down $0.34 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $25.08. 2,391,525 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,675,733. The company has a market cap of $13.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.66 and a beta of 0.31. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $28.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 2.47. Hormel Foods Corporation has a 52 week low of $23.71 and a 52 week high of $33.80.

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

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.