Credit Suisse Group Lowers Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) Price Target to $41.00

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL – Get Rating) had its price objective reduced by Credit Suisse Group from $44.00 to $41.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on HRL. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Hormel Foods from $48.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Hormel Foods from a neutral rating to an underweight rating and cut their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Hormel Foods from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, December 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hormel Foods currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $45.86.

Hormel Foods Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE:HRL opened at $40.63 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $22.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.70, a PEG ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.18. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $45.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Hormel Foods has a fifty-two week low of $40.06 and a fifty-two week high of $55.11.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.08 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 13.10% and a net margin of 7.90%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.44 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Hormel Foods will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James P. Snee sold 31,283 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.66, for a total transaction of $1,490,947.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 234,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,200,052.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO James P. Snee sold 31,283 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.66, for a total transaction of $1,490,947.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 234,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,200,052.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Patrick J. Connor sold 1,577 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.88, for a total transaction of $73,929.76. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,063,332.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hormel Foods

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods in the fourth quarter worth $99,995,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 58.1% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,764,663 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,491,000 after acquiring an additional 1,016,300 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 331.6% in the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,263,975 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,435,000 after acquiring an additional 971,113 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Hormel Foods in the fourth quarter worth $38,214,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 26.3% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,970,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,835,000 after acquiring an additional 826,681 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.74% of the company’s stock.

About Hormel Foods

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Hormel Foods Corp. engages in the production of meat and food products. It operates through the following segments: Grocery Products, Refrigerated Foods, Jennie-O Turkey Store, and International and Other. The Grocery Products segment focuses on the processing, marketing, and sale of shelf-stable food products sold in the retail market.