New York State Common Retirement Fund Trims Stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its stake in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 704,701 shares of the company's stock after selling 29,840 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.13% of Hormel Foods worth $22,628,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in HRL. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Hormel Foods by 28.0% during the third quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,959,077 shares of the company's stock worth $74,504,000 after purchasing an additional 428,100 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC grew its stake in Hormel Foods by 54.4% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 868,251 shares of the company's stock worth $27,880,000 after purchasing an additional 305,866 shares during the period. CBOE Vest Financial LLC grew its stake in Hormel Foods by 86.7% during the third quarter. CBOE Vest Financial LLC now owns 562,385 shares of the company's stock worth $21,388,000 after purchasing an additional 261,234 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Hormel Foods during the third quarter worth approximately $8,595,000. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP grew its stake in Hormel Foods by 195.1% during the third quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 304,600 shares of the company's stock worth $11,584,000 after purchasing an additional 201,377 shares during the period. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on 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 research note on Friday, March 1st. Citigroup assumed coverage on Hormel Foods in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Hormel Foods from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note 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 research note on Friday, January 12th. Finally, 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 research note on Friday, March 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $31.00.

Hormel Foods Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of HRL stock traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $35.32. The company had a trading volume of 2,088,175 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,357,894. Hormel Foods Co. has a 12 month low of $28.51 and a 12 month high of $41.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.49 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.38. The company has a market cap of $19.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.27.

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

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.2825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. Hormel Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.95, for a total transaction of $349,500.00. Following 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.95, for a total transaction of $349,500.00. Following 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Mark A. Coffey sold 15,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $539,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 68,029 shares in the company, valued at $2,381,015. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 40,800 shares of company stock worth $1,414,872. 0.69% 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.