USS Investment Management Ltd Reduces Stock Holdings in Hormel Foods Corporation $HRL

Key Points

• USS Investment Management Ltd reduced its stake in Hormel Foods Corporation by 68.4%, holding 42,498 shares valued at approximately $1.32 million following the sale of 91,800 shares in Q1.
• Several institutional investors, including Pacer Advisors Inc. and Two Sigma Advisers LP, significantly increased their holdings in Hormel Foods, indicating increased interest from hedge funds in the stock.
• Analyst ratings for Hormel Foods vary, with a consensus "Hold" rating and average target price of $30.88, following updates from various financial institutions regarding the stock's expected performance.

USS Investment Management Ltd decreased its position in shares of Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 68.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 42,498 shares of the company's stock after selling 91,800 shares during the quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $1,316,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in Hormel Foods by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 249,724 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,834,000 after acquiring an additional 10,507 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in Hormel Foods by 28.4% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,545,455 shares of the company's stock worth $48,481,000 after purchasing an additional 342,225 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 132.4% during the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 17,345 shares of the company's stock worth $545,000 after acquiring an additional 9,883 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 21.5% during the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 43,285 shares of the company's stock worth $1,358,000 after acquiring an additional 7,661 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Hormel Foods by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 47,190 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,481,000 after buying an additional 3,966 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on HRL. Bank of America decreased their target price on Hormel Foods from $35.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 29th. BNP Paribas Exane raised Hormel Foods from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Hormel Foods from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 29th. Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $31.00 price objective on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Hormel Foods from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $30.88.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HRL traded down $0.34 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $25.08. 2,391,525 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,417,136. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.39. Hormel Foods Corporation has a 1-year low of $23.71 and a 1-year high of $33.80. The firm has a market cap of $13.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.58 and a beta of 0.31.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 28th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.06). Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 10.06% and a net margin of 6.26%.The company had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.98 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. Hormel Foods'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 forecast that Hormel Foods Corporation will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.