Item 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Market information

Hormel Foods Corporation’s common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol HRL. The CUSIP number is 440452100.

Holders

There are approximately 12,600 record stockholders and 136,000 stockholders whose shares are held in street name by brokerage firms and financial institutions.

There were no issuer purchases of equity securities in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019. The maximum number of shares that may yet be purchased under the plans or programs as of October 27, 2019 is 4,758,235. On January 29, 2013, the Company's Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of 10,000,000 shares of its common stock with no expiration date. On January 26, 2016, the Board of Directors approved a two-for-one split of the Company’s common stock to be effective January 27, 2016. As part of the stock split resolution, the number of shares remaining to be repurchased was adjusted proportionately.

Dividends

The Company has paid dividends for 365 consecutive quarters. The annual dividend rate for fiscal 2020 was increased 11 percent percent to $0.93 per share, representing the 54th consecutive annual dividend increase. The Company is dedicated to returning excess cash flow to shareholders through dividend payments.

Shareholder return performance graph

The following graph shows a comparison of cumulative total shareholder return, calculated on a dividend-reinvested basis, for the Company, the S&P 500 Index, and the S&P 500 Packaged Foods & Meats Index for the five years ended October 27, 2019. The graph assumes $100 was invested in each, as of the market close on October 27, 2014. Note that historic stock price performance is not necessarily indicative of future stock price performance.