Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Shares Sold by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada cut its holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 37.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 448,549 shares of the company's stock after selling 271,418 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.08% of Hormel Foods worth $14,071,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of HRL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Hormel Foods by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,241,219 shares of the company's stock worth $1,168,257,000 after buying an additional 268,328 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Hormel Foods by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,843,207 shares of the company's stock valued at $246,041,000 after purchasing an additional 533,657 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Hormel Foods by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,461,100 shares of the company's stock valued at $233,459,000 after purchasing an additional 98,442 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Hormel Foods by 7.3% in 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. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 261,742 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.99% of the company's stock.

Hormel Foods Stock Up 0.9%

Hormel Foods stock traded up $0.27 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $30.65. 4,464,430 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,625,317. The company's fifty day moving average price is $29.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.26. Hormel Foods Co. has a fifty-two week low of $27.59 and a fifty-two week high of $33.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The company has a market cap of $16.85 billion, a PE ratio of 20.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.34.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.75% and a return on equity of 10.95%. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. The firm's revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Dividend Announcement

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 paid 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 3.78%. Hormel Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Hormel Foods from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $29.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $31.00 target price on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hormel Foods has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $32.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hormel Foods

In other Hormel Foods news, Director Elsa A. Murano sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.40, for a total transaction of $136,800.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 95,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,902,835.20. This represents a 4.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hormel Foods Company 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.