Millennium Management LLC Has $140.81 Million Position in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,488,678 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 261,742 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC owned 0.82% of Hormel Foods worth $140,810,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,241,219 shares of the company's stock worth $1,168,257,000 after purchasing an additional 268,328 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,843,207 shares of the company's stock worth $246,041,000 after purchasing an additional 533,657 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,461,100 shares of the company's stock worth $233,459,000 after purchasing an additional 98,442 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 33.9% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 4,374,456 shares of the company's stock worth $137,227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,107,270 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,751,307 shares of the company's stock worth $117,674,000 after purchasing an additional 634,630 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.99% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hormel Foods

In other news, Director Elsa A. Murano sold 4,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 95,488 shares in the company, 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 accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HRL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America raised shares of Hormel Foods from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the company from $29.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $31.00 target price on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Hormel Foods from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Hormel Foods currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $32.33.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

NYSE:HRL traded up $0.37 on Friday, reaching $30.53. The stock had a trading volume of 3,067,893 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,635,514. The company has a market capitalization of $16.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.34. Hormel Foods Co. has a 1-year low of $27.59 and a 1-year high of $36.86. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $29.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.30.

Hormel Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 14th were given a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.80%. Hormel Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.67%.

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.