The Vanguard Group, Inc. recently announced the acquisition of new stake in Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL). The institutional investor has increased its shareholding in the Consumer Defensive company by 1.14% to 34.24 million shares with purchase of 0.39 million shares. This fresh investment now brings its stake to 6.27% valued currently at $1.52 billion. In addition, BlackRock Fund Advisors raised its holdings by 0.54 million to 20.68 million shares. And Geode Capital Management LLC has lifted its position by 1.52% or 92153.0 shares – to 6.17 million shares.
With over 2.32 million Hormel Foods Corporation (HRL) shares trading Monday and a closing price of $39.33 on the day, the dollar volume was approximately $91.32 million. The shares have shown a negative half year performance of -16.07% and its price on 03/13/23 gained nearly 0.38%. Currently, there are 546.38M common shares owned by the public and among those 287.16M shares have been available to trade.
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An analysis of what Wall Street brokers have to say about the expected price targets for this stock gives us this picture: 14 analysts who have offered their price forecasts for HRL have a consensus price objective of $42.66. The analysts have set the share’s price value over the next 12 months at a high of $48.90 and a low of $35.00. The average price target is 9.04% above its recent price level and a downside to the estimated low will see the stock lose -12.37% over that period. But an upside of 19.57% will see the stock hit the forecast high price target while median target price for the stock is $44.00.
Insiders at the company have transacted a total of 78 times over the past 12 months, according to data filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 48 of these insider trades were purchases, accounting for 1,426,233 shares. Insider sales of the common stock occurred on 30 occasions, with total insider shares sold totaling 156,636 shares.
The top 3 mutual fund holders in Hormel Foods Corporation are Washington Mutual Investors Fund, Vanguard Total Stock Market Index, and Vanguard 500 Index Fund. Washington Mutual Investors Fund owns 9.4 million shares of the company’s stock, all valued at over $417.17 million. Vanguard Total Stock Market Index bought 59399.0 shares to see its total holdings expand to 8.36 million shares valued at over $371.21 million and representing 1.53% of the shares outstanding. Vanguard 500 Index Fund bought 15862.0 shares to bring its total holdings to over 6.71 million shares at a value of $297.7 million. Vanguard 500 Index Fund now owns shares totaling to 1.23% of the shares outstanding.
Shares of Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE: HRL) opened at $39.20, up $0.02 from a prior closing price of $39.18. However, the script later moved the day high at 39.92, up 0.38%. The company’s stock has a 5-day price change of -2.96% and -17.46% over the past three months. HRL shares are trading -13.66% year to date (YTD), with the 12-month market performance down to -22.09% lower. It has a 12-month low price of $39.03 and touched a high of $55.11 over the same period. HRL has an average intraday trading volume of 1.78 million shares. The stock is trading above its simple moving averages at the SMA20, SMA50, and SMA200, as the current price level is off by -9.33%, -11.80%, and -15.68% respectively.
Institutional ownership of Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE: HRL) shares accounts for 41.40% of the company’s 546.38M shares outstanding. Mutual fund holders own 25.37%, while other institutional holders and individual stakeholders account for 48.90% and 16.01% respectively.
It has a market capitalization of $21.79B and a beta (3y monthly) value of 0.19. The stock’s trailing 12-month PE ratio is 22.12, while the earnings-per-share (ttm) stands at $1.78. The company has a PEG of 6.70 and a Quick Ratio of 1.10 with the debt-to-equity ratio at 0.43. Price movements for the stock have been influenced by the stock’s volatility, which stands at 1.68% over the week and 1.60% over the month.
Analysts forecast that Hormel Foods Corporation (HRL) will achieve an EPS of $0.45 for the current quarter, $0.48 for the next quarter and $2.02 for 2024. The lowest estimate earnings-per-share for the quarter is $0.44 while analysts give the company a high EPS estimate of $0.47. Comparatively, EPS for the current quarter was $0.44 a year ago. Earnings per share for the fiscal year are expected to increase by 9.60%, and 8.27% over the next financial year. EPS should grow at an annualized rate of 3.30% over the next five years, compared to 3.00% over the past 5-year period.
If you are looking to buy this stock, then you may note that the average analyst recommendation by 14 brokerage firm advisors rate Hormel Foods Corporation (HRL) as a “Hold” at a consensus score of 3.20. Specifically, 1 Wall Street analysts polled rate the stock as a buy, while 8 of the 14 advise that investors “hold,” and 2 rated it as a “Sell.”
Looking at the support for the HRL, a number of firms have released research notes about the stock. JP Morgan stated their Underweight rating for the stock in a research note on March 03, 2023, with the firm’s price target at $47-$38. Goldman coverage for the Hormel Foods Corporation (HRL) stock in a research note released on March 15, 2022 offered a Sell rating with a price target of $44. Argus was of a view on March 10, 2022 that the stock is Buy, while JP Morgan gave the stock Neutral rating on October 08, 2021, issuing a price target of $42. Argus on their part issued Hold rating on December 09, 2020.
