Centiva Capital LP Buys 13,488 Shares of Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL)

Centiva Capital LP increased its stake in Hormel Foods Co. (NYSE:HRL) by 81.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,048 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 13,488 shares during the quarter. Centiva Capital LP’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $953,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in Hormel Foods by 4.4% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 818,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,944,000 after acquiring an additional 34,589 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its stake in Hormel Foods by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 452,510 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,345,000 after purchasing an additional 52,457 shares during the last quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC grew its holdings in Hormel Foods by 2.9% during the third quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 924,365 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,302,000 after purchasing an additional 26,390 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Hormel Foods by 3.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,846,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,548,000 after buying an additional 66,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qsemble Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Hormel Foods in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,025,000. 40.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deanna T. Brady sold 51,600 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 72,421 shares in the company, valued at $2,313,850.95. The trade was a 41.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 71,400 shares of company stock valued at $2,288,338 over the last 90 days. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HRL opened at $32.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $18.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.26. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $31.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.54. Hormel Foods Co. has a one year low of $28.51 and a one year high of $36.86.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.14 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 6.52%. Hormel Foods’s revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Hormel Foods Co. will post 1.58 EPS for the current year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, January 13th will be paid a $0.29 dividend. This is a boost from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 13th. Hormel Foods’s payout ratio is 79.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on HRL. Citigroup decreased their target price on Hormel Foods from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Monday, October 21st. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Stephens started coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 target price 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Hormel Foods presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.29.

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.