Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) Shares Acquired by Mather Group LLC.

Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 9.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 464,889 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 39,332 shares during the quarter. Mather Group LLC. owned approximately 0.08% of Hormel Foods worth $14,384,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Exeter Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Exeter Financial LLC now owns 16,809 shares of the company's stock worth $520,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.7% in the first quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 17,718 shares of the company's stock valued at $548,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares in the last quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 44,473 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,395,000 after acquiring an additional 459 shares during the last quarter. G&S Capital LLC increased its position in Hormel Foods by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. G&S Capital LLC now owns 15,516 shares of the company's stock worth $480,000 after purchasing an additional 463 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in Hormel Foods by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,312 shares of the company's stock valued at $104,000 after purchasing an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Hormel Foods Trading Down 0.4%

HRL traded down $0.12 on Thursday, reaching $30.69. 2,547,588 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,683,120. Hormel Foods Corporation has a twelve month low of $27.59 and a twelve month high of $33.80. The company's 50 day moving average is $30.10 and its 200-day moving average is $30.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 2.47. The company has a market cap of $16.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.57, a PEG ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.33.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.35. The company had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.27% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The business's quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Hormel Foods Corporation will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 14th will be given a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 14th. Hormel Foods's payout ratio is 85.29%.

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.