Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL)

Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. bought a new position in Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 7,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Hormel Foods during the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,000. Riverview Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Hormel Foods by 183.8% during the first quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 1,572 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 1,018 shares during the last quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan acquired a new position in shares of Hormel Foods during the fourth quarter valued at about $52,000. YANKCOM Partnership raised its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 18.5% in the 1st quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 3,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in Hormel Foods by 34.4% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 3,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,000 after purchasing an additional 816 shares in the last quarter. 40.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on HRL. Bank of America upgraded shares of Hormel Foods from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $29.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Hormel Foods from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Hormel Foods in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $35.00 price target on the stock. BNP Paribas upgraded Hormel Foods from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $31.00 target price on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.86.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

HRL opened at $29.71 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $30.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.00. Hormel Foods Corporation has a 1 year low of $27.59 and a 1 year high of $33.80. The stock has a market cap of $16.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 1.17.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.27% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The business had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Hormel Foods Corporation will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 14th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.90%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.29%.

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.