Merit Financial Group LLC Purchases 3,191 Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 38.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,400 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,191 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $353,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 66,832 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,068,000 after acquiring an additional 3,817 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in Hormel Foods by 9.8% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 816,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,261,000 after acquiring an additional 72,632 shares in the last quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of Hormel Foods in the 1st quarter valued at $108,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 1,662.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 106,929 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,456,000 after purchasing an additional 100,861 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exeter Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Exeter Financial LLC now owns 16,809 shares of the company’s stock valued at $520,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Elsa A. Murano sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.40, for a total value of $136,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 95,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,902,835.20. This trade represents a 4.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Hormel Foods Trading Down 0.7%

NYSE HRL opened at $30.92 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.18, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.33. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.30. Hormel Foods Co. has a 12 month low of $27.59 and a 12 month high of $33.80. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35. The company had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 10.95% and a net margin of 6.75%. Hormel Foods’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 14th will be given a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 14th. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on HRL shares. BNP Paribas Exane raised Hormel Foods from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Bank of America upgraded Hormel Foods from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $29.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. BNP Paribas upgraded Hormel Foods from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $31.00 price target on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.50.

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.