Hsbc Holdings PLC Reduces Stock Position in Hormel Foods Corporation $HRL

Key Points

• HSBC Holdings PLC has reduced its stake in Hormel Foods Corporation by 2.4%, owning approximately 682,829 shares valued at $21 million as of the last reporting period.
• Hormel Foods reported earnings of $0.35 per share for the latest quarter, which met analysts' expectations, but its revenue slightly missed the consensus estimate at $2.90 billion.
• Recent upgrades by analysts include a change from "underperform" to "neutral" by BNP Paribas and a "buy" rating by Goldman Sachs with a target price of $35.00 on Hormel Foods stock.

Hsbc Holdings PLC lowered its position in shares of Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 2.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 682,829 shares of the company's stock after selling 17,112 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned 0.12% of Hormel Foods worth $21,092,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Hormel Foods by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 6,072,682 shares of the company's stock valued at $190,500,000 after purchasing an additional 413,669 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 261,742 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Hormel Foods by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,157,026 shares of the company's stock valued at $128,594,000 after buying an additional 405,719 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Hormel Foods by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,007,461 shares of the company's stock valued at $93,051,000 after buying an additional 41,236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Hormel Foods by 9,725.4% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,335,797 shares of the company's stock valued at $72,270,000 after buying an additional 2,312,024 shares during the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HRL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens reiterated an "equal weight" rating and set a $31.00 price target on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Hormel Foods from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. They set a "buy" rating and a $35.00 price objective on the stock. BNP Paribas raised shares of Hormel Foods from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Hormel Foods from $35.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $31.88.

Hormel Foods Stock Up 2.2%

HRL stock traded up $0.54 during trading on Friday, hitting $25.76. 2,096,078 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,229,484. Hormel Foods Corporation has a 1 year low of $23.71 and a 1 year high of $33.80. The firm's 50 day moving average is $29.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.65. The stock has a market cap of $14.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 1.17.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 28th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.06). Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.27% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.98 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.37 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Hormel Foods has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.380-0.400 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 1.430-1.450 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hormel Foods Corporation will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

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.