Independent Advisor Alliance Has $1.30 Million Stock Holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 39.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,946 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 11,615 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $1,298,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Insider Transactions at Hormel Foods

In related news, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 39,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,276,935. The trade was a 20.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal 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 shares were sold at an average price of $31.91, for a total transaction of $312,718.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 30,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $976,094.99. This represents a 24.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on HRL. Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 price target on the stock. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Hormel Foods in a research report on Monday, October 21st. They set an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.29.

Hormel Foods Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE HRL opened at $31.62 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $31.01 and its 200-day moving average is $31.66. Hormel Foods Co. has a one year low of $28.51 and a one year high of $36.86. The firm has a market cap of $17.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.26.

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

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 13th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. This is a positive change from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 13th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.67%. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is 79.58%.

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.