Hershey Company (The) $HSY Shares Purchased by Markel Group Inc.

Markel Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) by 11.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 75,000 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 7,500 shares during the period. Markel Group Inc.’s holdings in Hershey were worth $15,592,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Hershey in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $272,506,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Hershey by 546.6% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,057,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $192,439,000 after buying an additional 893,940 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Hershey by 150.1% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,278,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $232,731,000 after buying an additional 767,478 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Hershey by 4,478.5% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 586,141 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,666,000 after buying an additional 573,339 shares during the period. Finally, Readystate Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Hershey in the 4th quarter valued at $72,001,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on HSY shares. Bank of America lowered their target price on Hershey from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 25th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Hershey from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Hershey from $249.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Hershey from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Hershey from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $214.78.

Hershey Stock Up 1.5%

HSY traded up $2.50 on Friday, hitting $174.15. 2,420,439 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,286,708. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $183.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $197.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Hershey Company has a twelve month low of $161.29 and a twelve month high of $239.48. The company has a market cap of $35.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.11.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.03 billion. Hershey had a return on equity of 28.98% and a net margin of 9.12%.Hershey’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Hershey Company will post 8.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Hershey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $1.452 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $5.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 108.19%.

Insider Transactions at Hershey

In related news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.43, for a total value of $260,145.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 54,695 shares in the company, valued at $9,485,753.85. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.