Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) Shares Sold by Global X Japan Co. Ltd.

Global X Japan Co. Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 11.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,074 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,526 shares during the period. Global X Japan Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $368,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 9,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $346,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 20,291 shares of the company’s stock valued at $708,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. Viawealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Viawealth LLC now owns 17,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $598,000 after buying an additional 401 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 9,663 shares of the company’s stock worth $310,000 after buying an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kentucky Retirement Systems raised its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems now owns 23,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $744,000 after buying an additional 470 shares during the period. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on HRL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Hormel Foods from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Citigroup upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Friday, May 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Hormel Foods presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.33.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

HRL opened at $32.40 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $31.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.95. Hormel Foods Co. has a 12-month low of $28.51 and a 12-month high of $39.58. The firm has a market cap of $17.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.14, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

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

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.