Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Acquires 34,589 Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 818,417 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 34,589 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.15% of Hormel Foods worth $25,944,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 688.3% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 741 shares of the company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Central Valley Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods during the second quarter worth $37,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 516.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 1,132 shares during the period. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Hormel Foods during the second quarter valued at $42,000. Institutional investors own 40.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HRL. Citigroup raised Hormel Foods from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Monday, October 21st. They set an "underperform" rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $31.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $31.57.

Hormel Foods Stock Down 3.9 %

Shares of NYSE:HRL traded down $1.20 during trading on Friday, reaching $29.21. 4,146,059 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,092,168. Hormel Foods Co. has a 1-year low of $28.51 and a 1-year high of $36.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $31.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $16.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.26.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 11.03%. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.40 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a $0.282 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.86%. Hormel Foods's dividend payout ratio is presently 79.58%.

Insider Activity at Hormel Foods

In other Hormel Foods news, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.91, for a total transaction of $312,718.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 30,589 shares of the company's stock, valued at $976,094.99. The trade was a 24.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.95, for a total transaction of $1,648,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 72,421 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,313,850.95. This represents a 41.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 71,400 shares of company stock valued at $2,288,338 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.69% of the company's stock.

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.