HRL Short Interest
Hormel Foods Corporation (HRL) operates in the Consumer Defensive sector, specifically the Packaged Foods industry, with a market capitalization near $10.96B, listed on NYSE, employing roughly 20,000 people, carrying a beta of 0.31 to the broader market. Hormel Foods Corporation develops, processes, and distributes various meat, nuts, and food products to retail, foodservice, deli, and commercial customers in the United States and internationally. Led by Jeffrey Ettinger, public since 1980-03-17.
Short interest is the total number of shares currently sold short and not yet covered, reported bi-monthly by FINRA. Days to cover (short interest divided by average daily volume) indicates how long it would take short sellers to close positions, with higher values signaling greater squeeze potential.
- Settlement Date
- 2026-04-30
- Short Interest
- 22.6M
- Previous Short Interest
- 22.6M
- Change
- 0.12%
- Days to Cover
- 4.70
- Avg Daily Volume
- 4.8M
- Avg Days to Cover (24 reports)
- 3.81
Showing 24 bi-monthly FINRA short interest reports for Hormel Foods Corporation.
Learn how short interest is reported and how to read the data →
HRL most-active contracts
| Type | Strike | Expiration | Volume | OI | IV | Bid | Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CALL | $20.00 | Jun 18, 2026 | 4.8K | 256 | 35.1% | $0.70 | $0.80 |
Top 1 contracts from the ORATS-sourced nightly scan; ranked by volume within the broader S&P 500/400/600 + ETF universe.
Frequently asked HRL short interest questions
- What is the current HRL short interest?
- As of the Apr 30, 2026 settlement, Hormel Foods Corporation (HRL) short interest is 22.6M shares, a +0.12% change from the prior period. FINRA publishes short interest twice monthly on the 15th and last business day of each month under Rule 4560.
- What is the HRL days-to-cover ratio?
- Days-to-cover is 4.70, calculated as short interest divided by average daily volume. It estimates how many trading days closing all short positions would consume given typical liquidity. Values above 5 days are commonly cited as elevated; values above 10 days are squeeze-relevant.
- How does HRL short interest affect options pricing?
- High short interest changes options pricing through three mechanics: borrow-rebate effects (synthetic long stock trades below frictionless put-call parity by approximately the borrow rebate when shares are hard-to-borrow), gamma-squeeze setup risk (if dealers are short gamma against retail call buying, dealer hedge flow can amplify upward moves), and elevated event-vol pricing on names with squeeze potential. See the canonical short-interest documentation for the full mechanism.