White Pine Capital LLC Sells 1,545 Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

White Pine Capital LLC reduced its position in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 30,593 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,545 shares during the period. White Pine Capital LLC’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $960,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 56.0% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,237,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,934,000 after buying an additional 802,816 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,068,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $794,659,000 after buying an additional 617,308 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new stake in Hormel Foods in the 4th quarter worth about $16,612,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Hormel Foods by 328.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 514,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,297,000 after acquiring an additional 394,068 shares during the period. Finally, Vest Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 26.1% during the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 1,560,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,479,000 after purchasing an additional 322,645 shares during the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

NYSE:HRL opened at $28.59 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 2.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $30.92 and a 200 day moving average of $31.32. Hormel Foods Co. has a 52-week low of $28.27 and a 52-week high of $36.86.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 4th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 10.95% and a net margin of 6.75%. The company had revenue of $3.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 13th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 13th. This is a positive change from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.06%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio is 79.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HRL has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Monday, October 21st. They set an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays raised Hormel Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Steven J. Lykken purchased 4,904 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $32.47 per share, with a total value of $159,232.88. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $230,537. This represents a 223.32 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.72% 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.