Hormel Foods Corporation $HRL Shares Purchased by Northern Trust Corp

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Hormel Foods by 1.4%, owning over 3 million shares worth approximately $93 million.
• Hormel Foods reported quarterly earnings per share of $0.35, meeting analysts' expectations, with a revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter.
• Several analysts have upgraded Hormel Foods' stock ratings, with Goldman Sachs issuing a "buy" rating and a price target of $35.00.

Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 1.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,007,461 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 41,236 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned about 0.55% of Hormel Foods worth $93,051,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Hormel Foods by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 6,072,682 shares of the company's stock worth $190,500,000 after buying an additional 413,669 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,488,678 shares of the company's stock valued at $140,810,000 after acquiring an additional 261,742 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 10.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,157,026 shares of the company's stock valued at $128,594,000 after acquiring an additional 405,719 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 9,725.4% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,335,797 shares of the company's stock valued at $72,270,000 after acquiring an additional 2,312,024 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 496.3% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,185,600 shares of the company's stock valued at $68,562,000 after acquiring an additional 1,819,100 shares in the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

Shares of HRL stock traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $25.48. 4,688,671 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,245,874. 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 firm has a market cap of $14.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $29.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.65. Hormel Foods Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $23.71 and a fifty-two 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 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.98 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 6.27%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.37 earnings per share. Hormel Foods has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.380-0.400 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 1.430-1.450 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Hormel Foods Corporation will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. BNP Paribas upgraded Hormel Foods from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Hormel Foods from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Hormel Foods from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $34.00 target price (down previously from $36.00) on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Hormel Foods from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $29.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $31.38.

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.