Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Buys New Stake in Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 15,977 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $494,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of HRL. Exeter Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.3% in the first quarter. Exeter Financial LLC now owns 16,809 shares of the company's stock valued at $520,000 after buying an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. Simmons Bank raised its stake in Hormel Foods by 3.7% in the 1st 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. boosted its stake in Hormel Foods by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 17,718 shares of the company's stock worth $548,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. G&S Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 3.1% during the first quarter. G&S Capital LLC now owns 15,516 shares of the company's stock worth $480,000 after buying an additional 463 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,312 shares of the company's stock worth $104,000 after buying an additional 469 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Hormel Foods Trading Down 0.2%

Hormel Foods stock traded down $0.07 during trading on Friday, hitting $28.49. The company had a trading volume of 1,862,551 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,403,526. The stock has a market cap of $15.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Hormel Foods Corporation has a 1-year low of $27.59 and a 1-year high of $33.80. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $29.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.79.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 6.27%. The business had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.38 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Hormel Foods Corporation will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 14th. Hormel Foods's payout ratio is 85.29%.

Hormel Foods 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.