How Much Has Hormel Returned to Shareholders in Fiscal 2016?

Along with its 3Q16 results, Hormel Foods (HRL) also announced the 352nd consecutive quarterly dividend at the annual rate of $0.58 per share. This was paid on August 15 to stockholders of record at the close of business on July 18, 2016. Hormel has a dividend yield of 1.5% as of August 22. The company’s management has been raising the dividend consistently for the last five years. The dividend has risen at an average annual rate of 18.1%.

The company announced a 16% increase in its annual dividend before its fiscal 4Q15 results. The annual dividend increased 16% to $0.58 per share for fiscal 2016. The increased dividend marked the 50th consecutive annual dividend increase.

Tyson Foods’ peers have the following dividend yields as of August 22:

• Tyson Foods (TSN) has a dividend yield of 0.8%.
• Cal-Maine Foods (CALM) has a dividend yield of ~4.1%.

The WisdomTree SmallCap Dividend Fund (DES) and the Global X SuperDividend U.S. ETF (DIV) invest ~1.1% and 1.9% of their respective holdings in Cal-Maine.

Hormel repurchased 1.1 million shares of common stock in the third quarter for $38.6 million. Now, the company has 14.3 million shares outstanding out of the current authorization. The diluted weighted average number of shares outstanding for the third quarter was 542.2 million shares.

In the next part of this series, we’ll look at what Wall Street analysts are recommending for Hormel Foods after its fiscal 3Q16 results.