Cwm LLC Lowers Holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Cwm LLC trimmed its stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 473,732 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,237 shares during the period. Cwm LLC owned 0.09% of Hormel Foods worth $14,444,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HRL. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in Hormel Foods by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 154,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,959,000 after buying an additional 11,026 shares in the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV acquired a new position in shares of Hormel Foods in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,021,000. Qsemble Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Hormel Foods in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,181,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 31,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,026,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443 shares during the period. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Hormel Foods in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,694,000. 40.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Shares of HRL traded up $0.17 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $31.97. The company had a trading volume of 1,832,170 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,762,596. Hormel Foods Co. has a 52-week low of $28.51 and a 52-week high of $41.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.71, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $31.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.57.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 6.37%. Hormel Foods’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.40 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be given a $0.2825 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HRL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on Hormel Foods from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Hormel Foods from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $32.00 price objective on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Friday, May 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.67.

About Hormel Foods

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.