Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Shares Purchased by Stifel Financial Corp

Stifel Financial Corp grew its position in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL - Free Report) by 33.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,374,456 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 1,107,270 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp owned 0.80% of Hormel Foods worth $137,227,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its stake 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 buying an additional 934 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 626,360 shares of the company's stock worth $19,649,000 after purchasing an additional 20,514 shares during the period. Aviva PLC boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 58.9% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 313,619 shares of the company's stock worth $9,838,000 after purchasing an additional 116,304 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 71,010 shares of the company's stock worth $2,228,000 after purchasing an additional 9,120 shares during the period. Finally, Liberty One Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 862,308 shares of the company's stock worth $27,051,000 after purchasing an additional 26,121 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.99% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Elsa A. Murano sold 4,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.40, for a total value of $136,800.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 95,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,902,835.20. This trade represents a 4.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on HRL. Barclays raised shares of Hormel Foods from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stephens reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $31.00 price objective on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Hormel Foods from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $29.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $32.33.

Hormel Foods Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of HRL traded down $0.51 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $29.68. The stock had a trading volume of 2,381,978 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,587,646. Hormel Foods Co. has a 1-year low of $27.59 and a 1-year high of $36.86. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $29.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.47. The company has a market cap of $16.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.33, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

Hormel Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be issued a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.91%. Hormel Foods's payout ratio is 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.