Grandfield & Dodd LLC Acquires 128,349 Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Grandfield & Dodd LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 20.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 762,791 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 128,349 shares during the quarter. Hormel Foods accounts for approximately 1.7% of Grandfield & Dodd LLC's holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Grandfield & Dodd LLC owned 0.14% of Hormel Foods worth $24,493,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of HRL. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 62.9% in the 3rd quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,028 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods in the 1st quarter valued at about $41,000. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 21.1% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,069 shares of the company's stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the period. Dark Forest Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 387.0% in the 1st quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 1,841 shares of the company's stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 1,463 shares during the period. Finally, Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 24.4% in the 1st quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 1,527 shares of the company's stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.99% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hormel Foods news, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.95, for a total transaction of $349,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,708 shares in the company, valued at $1,352,844.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.95, for a total value of $349,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,708 shares in the company, valued at $1,352,844.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Mark A. Coffey sold 15,400 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.18, for a total transaction of $526,372.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 68,029 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,325,231.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 40,800 shares of company stock worth $1,414,872 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.69% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on HRL. Citigroup began coverage on Hormel Foods in a report on Thursday, February 1st. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Hormel Foods from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Hormel Foods from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Hormel Foods from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 12th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Hormel Foods from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $31.00.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Hormel Foods stock traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $34.74. 2,359,723 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,454,704. Hormel Foods Co. has a 52 week low of $28.51 and a 52 week high of $41.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.49. The firm has a market cap of $19.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.27. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $33.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.44.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.91 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.51% and a net margin of 6.55%. Hormel Foods's quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be given a dividend of $0.2825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. Hormel Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.40%.

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.