Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) Price Target Cut to $35.00 by Analysts at Citigroup

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) had its price objective reduced by stock analysts at Citigroup from $36.00 to $35.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Citigroup’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 18.89% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on HRL. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Monday, October 21st. They set an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price target for the company. Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 target price for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.29.

Hormel Foods Stock Up 0.1 %

HRL stock traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $29.44. 511,265 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,585,294. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 2.29. Hormel Foods has a 1-year low of $28.51 and a 1-year high of $36.86. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.85. The firm has a market cap of $16.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.26.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of Hormel Foods stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.95, for a total transaction of $1,648,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 72,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,313,850.95. This trade represents a 41.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.91, for a total value of $312,718.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 30,589 shares in the company, valued at $976,094.99. This represents a 24.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 71,400 shares of company stock valued at $2,288,338 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hormel Foods

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Hormel Foods by 56.0% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,237,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,934,000 after acquiring an additional 802,816 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 86.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,602,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,867,000 after purchasing an additional 742,859 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Hormel Foods by 2.5% in 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Hormel Foods by 24.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,976,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,738,000 after buying an additional 575,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Hormel Foods by 59.1% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,244,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,470,000 after buying an additional 462,283 shares during the period. 40.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.