Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Has $1.61 Million Holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 50,759 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,875 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $1,609,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Hormel Foods by 86.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,602,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,867,000 after buying an additional 742,859 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake 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. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Hormel Foods by 59.1% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,244,448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,470,000 after buying an additional 462,283 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Hormel Foods by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,089,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,210,000 after buying an additional 412,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted 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 buying an additional 394,068 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Stephens assumed coverage on Hormel Foods in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup cut their price objective on Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, BNP Paribas began coverage on Hormel Foods in a research report on Monday, October 21st. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hormel Foods presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.29.

Hormel Foods Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of HRL opened at $31.92 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $17.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.48, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.26. Hormel Foods Co. has a 52-week low of $28.51 and a 52-week high of $36.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 2.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $30.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.66.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last released 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 company had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 6.52%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. This is an increase from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is presently 79.58%.

Insider Transactions at Hormel Foods

In related news, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.95, for a total value of $1,648,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 72,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,313,850.95. This represents a 41.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Steven J. Lykken sold 9,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, 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 worth $2,288,338 over the last 90 days. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.