Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Reduces Holdings in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. decreased its position in shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) by 10.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 111,220 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,963 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of Hershey worth $20,736,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new position in shares of Hershey during the third quarter worth about $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hershey during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. First Financial Corp IN purchased a new position in shares of Hershey during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Highlander Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hershey by 125.3% during the fourth quarter. Highlander Capital Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Hershey during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hershey news, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 453 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.54, for a total transaction of $89,938.62. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $369,681.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 453 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.54, for a total transaction of $89,938.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,862 shares in the company, valued at approximately $369,681.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.83, for a total value of $278,745.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,196,824.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,453 shares of company stock valued at $665,534 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on HSY shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Hershey from $185.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. BNP Paribas lowered Hershey from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $208.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Edward Jones reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Hershey in a report on Friday, April 19th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Hershey from $213.00 to $199.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $213.00 price objective on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, March 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $223.33.

Hershey Price Performance

HSY stock traded down $0.92 on Friday, reaching $186.23. The company had a trading volume of 1,186,501 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,945,917. The Hershey Company has a 1 year low of $178.82 and a 1 year high of $276.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.97. The company’s fifty day moving average is $191.74 and its 200 day moving average is $190.64. The company has a market cap of $37.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.58, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.34.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.07. Hershey had a return on equity of 51.79% and a net margin of 16.67%. The firm had revenue of $2.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.02 EPS. Hershey’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that The Hershey Company will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Hershey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $1.37 per share. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. This is a positive change from Hershey’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.19. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.55%.

Hershey Profile

The Hershey Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of confectionery products and pantry items in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: North America Confectionery, North America Salty Snacks, and International. It offers chocolate and non-chocolate confectionery products; gum and mint refreshment products, including mints, chewing gums, and bubble gums; protein bars; pantry items, such as baking ingredients, toppings, beverages, and sundae syrups; and snack items comprising spreads, bars, snack bites, mixes, popcorn, and pretzels.