Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) Hits New 52-Week Low – Should You Sell?

Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) hit a new 52-week low on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $28.03 and last traded at $28.27, with a volume of 4050029 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $28.46.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on HRL shares. Barclays upgraded Hormel Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $31.00 price target on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hormel Foods has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.17.

Hormel Foods Stock Up 0.9 %

The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.74, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.26. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $30.38 and a 200-day moving average of $31.17.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $3.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.14 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 10.95% and a net margin of 6.75%. The business’s revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 13th were paid a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, January 13th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.03%. This is an increase from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is 79.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hormel Foods

In other news, VP Steven J. Lykken bought 4,904 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $32.47 per share, for a total transaction of $159,232.88. Following the completion of the purchase, the vice president now directly owns 7,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $230,537. This trade represents a 223.32 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HRL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,241,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,168,257,000 after purchasing an additional 268,328 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Hormel Foods by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,068,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $794,659,000 after purchasing an additional 617,308 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Hormel Foods by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,843,207 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,041,000 after acquiring an additional 533,657 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Hormel Foods by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,461,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,459,000 after acquiring an additional 98,442 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Hormel Foods by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 6,072,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $190,500,000 after acquiring an additional 413,669 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

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.