Hormel Foods Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:HRL)

Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders purchased 5,653 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 84% compared to the typical volume of 3,069 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HRL has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $27.00 target price on Hormel Foods and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Hormel Foods from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research downgraded Hormel Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $34.00 price target (down previously from $36.00) on shares of Hormel Foods in a report on Friday, August 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Hormel Foods presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.86.

Hormel Foods Price Performance

Shares of HRL opened at $24.37 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.40 billion, a PE ratio of 28.01, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Hormel Foods has a fifty-two week low of $21.03 and a fifty-two week high of $33.80. The company’s 50-day moving average is $23.19 and its 200-day moving average is $26.74.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 4th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.24 billion. Hormel Foods had a return on equity of 9.41% and a net margin of 3.95%.The business’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. Hormel Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.430-1.51 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Hormel Foods will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Hormel Foods Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 12th will be paid a $0.2925 dividend. This is a positive change from Hormel Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 12th. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.8%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 84.67%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hormel Foods

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Hormel Foods by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 77,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,385,000 after buying an additional 7,534 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Hormel Foods during the first quarter worth about $494,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Hormel Foods by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 72,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,231,000 after purchasing an additional 4,291 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV raised its stake in Hormel Foods by 34.9% during the first quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 50,069 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,549,000 after buying an additional 12,949 shares during the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Hormel Foods in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,376,000. 40.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.