Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Receives $32.50 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the six research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $32.50.

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Stephens reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and issued a $31.00 target price on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. BNP Paribas raised Hormel Foods from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. 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 report on Tuesday, April 15th.

Insider Transactions at Hormel Foods

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HRL. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in Hormel Foods during the 1st quarter worth approximately $37,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods in the first quarter worth $38,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods during the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hormel Foods during the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 86.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 1,484 shares of the company's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 690 shares during the period. 40.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hormel Foods Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE HRL traded down $0.11 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $30.61. The stock had a trading volume of 1,017,293 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,621,252. The business's 50 day moving average is $30.01 and its 200-day moving average is $30.28. Hormel Foods has a 52 week low of $27.59 and a 52 week high of $33.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $16.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.96, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.34.

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

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 14th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.