Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 48,657 Shares of Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 12.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 452,925 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 48,657 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.08% of Hormel Foods worth $14,014,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,241,219 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,168,257,000 after buying an additional 268,328 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,843,207 shares of the company's stock valued at $246,041,000 after buying an additional 533,657 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,461,100 shares of the company's stock valued at $233,459,000 after buying an additional 98,442 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 6,072,682 shares of the company's stock valued at $190,500,000 after buying an additional 413,669 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $140,810,000 after buying an additional 261,742 shares during the period. 40.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HRL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane raised Hormel Foods from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. BNP Paribas raised Hormel Foods from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Stephens reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $31.00 price objective on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Hormel Foods in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. They set a "buy" rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America raised Hormel Foods from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $29.00 to $35.00 in a research note 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $32.86.

Hormel Foods Trading Up 2.3%

HRL stock traded up $0.69 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $29.90. 4,335,814 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,762,533. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $30.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.01. 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 $16.44 billion, a PE ratio of 21.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.33. Hormel Foods Corporation has a one year low of $27.59 and a one year high of $33.80.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.35. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 6.27%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Hormel Foods Corporation will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 14th will be issued a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 14th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.88%. Hormel Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.