Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Sells 13,464 Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 3.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 329,201 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,464 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. owned 0.06% of Hormel Foods worth $10,037,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Hormel Foods by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,450,447 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,679,000 after buying an additional 56,189 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in Hormel Foods by 30.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 19,683 shares of the company’s stock valued at $632,000 after acquiring an additional 4,594 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its position in Hormel Foods by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 24,067 shares of the company’s stock worth $773,000 after acquiring an additional 1,340 shares during the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems increased its stake in Hormel Foods by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems now owns 23,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $744,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the period. Finally, ING Groep NV lifted its position in Hormel Foods by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 39,652 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,273,000 after purchasing an additional 3,305 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Hormel Foods

In related news, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,313,850.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on HRL. Citigroup raised shares of Hormel Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $32.00 price objective on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Hormel Foods from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Friday, May 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hormel Foods currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.33.

Hormel Foods Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE HRL opened at $32.37 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.75 billion, a PE ratio of 23.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.25. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $31.96 and its 200 day moving average is $32.96. Hormel Foods Co. has a twelve month low of $28.51 and a twelve month high of $39.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 11.03%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.