MQS Management LLC Purchases New Holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 6,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HRL. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in Hormel Foods by 86.4% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,602,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,867,000 after acquiring an additional 742,859 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Hormel Foods by 24.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,976,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,738,000 after acquiring an additional 575,378 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Hormel Foods by 59.1% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,244,448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,470,000 after acquiring an additional 462,283 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Hormel Foods by 15.4% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,089,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,210,000 after acquiring an additional 412,313 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 328.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 514,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,297,000 after purchasing an additional 394,068 shares during the period. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hormel Foods news, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total transaction of $327,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 39,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,276,935. This represents a 20.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.91, for a total value of $312,718.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 30,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $976,094.99. This represents a 24.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 71,400 shares of company stock worth $2,288,338 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Hormel Foods Stock Down 3.9 %

NYSE HRL opened at $29.21 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $16.02 billion, a PE ratio of 20.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.26. Hormel Foods Co. has a one year low of $28.51 and a one year high of $36.86. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 6.52%. Hormel Foods’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th were given a dividend of $0.282 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HRL has been the topic of several analyst reports. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Hormel Foods in a research note on Monday, October 21st. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective on the stock. Stephens initiated coverage on Hormel Foods in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Hormel Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.57.

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.