Hershey Company (The) $HSY Shares Sold by Intech Investment Management LLC

Intech Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) by 63.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,209 shares of the company’s stock after selling 24,191 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Hershey were worth $2,586,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Hershey by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 15,310 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,618,000 after acquiring an additional 937 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hershey by 20.2% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new position in shares of Hershey during the 2nd quarter valued at $267,000. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its holdings in shares of Hershey by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 17,927 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,975,000 after acquiring an additional 769 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hershey by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 22,247 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,692,000 after acquiring an additional 1,149 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on HSY. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Hershey from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. DA Davidson reduced their target price on shares of Hershey from $230.00 to $208.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $185.00 target price on shares of Hershey in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Hershey in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Hershey from $247.00 to $227.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $218.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hershey

In other news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.10, for a total value of $291,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 57,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,198,599.50. The trade was a 2.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Hershey Stock Performance

Shares of HSY stock opened at $184.12 on Wednesday. Hershey Company has a 12 month low of $158.67 and a 12 month high of $239.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.09. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $196.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $198.76.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.31. Hershey had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 28.98%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Hershey Company will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a $1.452 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $5.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Hershey’s payout ratio is presently 108.19%.

Hershey Profile

The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) is a leading North American chocolatier and snack manufacturer headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The company develops, produces and markets a wide range of confectionery and snack products for retail, foodservice and international customers. Hershey’s business spans manufacturing, branded product marketing, packaging and distribution across grocery, convenience, mass merchant and e-commerce channels.

Hershey’s product portfolio centers on chocolate and sugar confectionery, including core brands such as Hershey’s, Reese’s, Hershey’s Kisses and Twizzlers, alongside non-chocolate snacks and confectionery brands.