Northern Trust Corp Purchases 306,567 Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 11.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,966,225 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 306,567 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned about 0.54% of Hormel Foods worth $93,050,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of HRL. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 9,905 shares of the company's stock valued at $311,000 after acquiring an additional 934 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 626,360 shares of the company's stock valued at $19,649,000 after acquiring an additional 20,514 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC grew its stake in Hormel Foods by 58.9% in the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 313,619 shares of the company's stock worth $9,838,000 after acquiring an additional 116,304 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp lifted 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 acquiring an additional 1,107,270 shares during the period. Finally, DnB Asset Management AS lifted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 71,010 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,228,000 after purchasing an additional 9,120 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.99% of the company's stock.

Hormel Foods Stock Down 0.5 %

HRL traded down $0.16 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $29.23. 1,583,091 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,599,123. 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 $16.07 billion, a PE ratio of 20.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.34. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $29.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.36. Hormel Foods Co. has a one year low of $27.59 and a one year high of $36.86.

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be given a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. Hormel Foods's dividend payout ratio is currently 84.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on HRL shares. Stephens reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $31.00 price target on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $32.33.

Insider Activity

In other Hormel Foods news, Director Elsa A. Murano sold 4,500 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 4.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.72% of the stock is owned by company 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.