Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. Sells 607 Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. trimmed its position in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,620 shares of the company’s stock after selling 607 shares during the quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $213,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Hormel Foods by 1.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,500,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,726,636,000 after acquiring an additional 547,495 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.6% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,864,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,071,346,000 after buying an additional 685,894 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.3% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,310,807 shares of the company’s stock worth $251,121,000 after buying an additional 144,364 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,014,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $228,734,000 after buying an additional 165,563 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 26.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,970,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,835,000 after buying an additional 826,681 shares during the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hormel Foods

In other Hormel Foods news, VP Mark A. Coffey sold 15,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.18, for a total value of $526,372.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 68,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,325,231.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Kevin L. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.95, for a total transaction of $349,500.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,708 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,352,844.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Mark A. Coffey sold 15,400 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.18, for a total transaction of $526,372.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 68,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,325,231.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 40,800 shares of company stock valued at $1,414,872 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Hormel Foods from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Thursday, February 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $31.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Hormel Foods from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Hormel Foods from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Hormel Foods from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.00.

Hormel Foods Stock Down 0.1 %

Hormel Foods stock opened at $33.90 on Tuesday. Hormel Foods Co. has a twelve month low of $28.51 and a twelve month high of $41.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $32.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.50. The company has a market capitalization of $18.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.91 billion. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.55% and a return on equity of 11.51%. The company’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a $0.2825 dividend. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is 77.40%.

Hormel Foods Company 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.