GAMMA Investing LLC Acquires 100,861 Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 1,662.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 106,929 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 100,861 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC's holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $3,456,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of HRL. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 96.1% in the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 66,136 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,074,000 after purchasing an additional 32,410 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 929,871 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,170,000 after purchasing an additional 111,454 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in Hormel Foods by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 39,291 shares of the company's stock worth $1,233,000 after acquiring an additional 849 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp bought a new position in Hormel Foods during the fourth quarter worth about $16,612,000. Finally, G&S Capital LLC increased its position in Hormel Foods by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. G&S Capital LLC now owns 15,053 shares of the company's stock worth $472,000 after acquiring an additional 569 shares during the period. 40.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HRL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stephens reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $31.00 price target on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. BNP Paribas raised shares of Hormel Foods from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Bank of America raised shares of Hormel Foods from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $29.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $32.50.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

HRL stock traded down $0.50 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $30.55. The stock had a trading volume of 1,980,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,634,966. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Hormel Foods Co. has a 52 week low of $27.59 and a 52 week high of $33.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.33. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.28.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.35. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.75% and a return on equity of 10.95%. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.65 EPS for the current 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 issued a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 14th. Hormel Foods's dividend payout ratio is currently 85.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hormel Foods

In related news, Director Elsa A. Murano sold 4,500 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.40, for a total transaction of $136,800.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 95,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,902,835.20. The trade was a 4.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

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.