Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Increases Dividend to $0.28 Per Share

Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, November 20th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.2825 per share on Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.51%. This is a boost from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28.

Hormel Foods has increased its dividend by an average of 7.4% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 57 years. Hormel Foods has a payout ratio of 65.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Hormel Foods to earn $1.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.10 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 65.5%.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Shares of Hormel Foods stock traded down $0.33 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $32.19. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,795,006 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,293,571. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 1.40. Hormel Foods has a one year low of $30.70 and a one year high of $49.73. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.11. The stock has a market cap of $17.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.28.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 31st. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.01). Hormel Foods had a net margin of 7.20% and a return on equity of 12.20%. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Hormel Foods will post 1.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hormel Foods

In related news, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 5,200 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction on Friday, October 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.93, for a total value of $160,836.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,204,321.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Hormel Foods news, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 5,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.93, for a total value of $160,836.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,937 shares in the company, valued at $1,204,321.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Pierre M. Lilly acquired 1,454 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $37.25 per share, for a total transaction of $54,161.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,454 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,161.50. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hormel Foods

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Hormel Foods by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,500,871 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,726,636,000 after buying an additional 547,495 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Hormel Foods by 2.6% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,864,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,071,346,000 after purchasing an additional 685,894 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Hormel Foods by 2.3% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,310,807 shares of the company’s stock valued at $251,121,000 after purchasing an additional 144,364 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Hormel Foods by 26.3% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,970,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,835,000 after purchasing an additional 826,681 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 41.3% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,241,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,252,000 after purchasing an additional 947,576 shares in the last quarter. 41.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on HRL shares. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $31.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Hormel Foods from $33.00 to $29.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Hormel Foods from $41.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.00.

About Hormel Foods

Hormel Foods Corporation develops, processes, and distributes various meat, nuts, and food products to retail, foodservice, deli, and commercial customers in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Grocery Products, Refrigerated Foods, Jennie-O Turkey Store, and International & Other.