TIAA Trust National Association Trims Stock Holdings in Hershey Company (The) $HSY

TIAA Trust National Association reduced its stake in Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) by 20.1% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,637 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,417 shares during the period. TIAA Trust National Association’s holdings in Hershey were worth $935,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. William Allan Corp increased its stake in Hershey by 173.1% during the first quarter. William Allan Corp now owns 18,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,180,000 after acquiring an additional 11,785 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in Hershey during the second quarter worth about $224,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Hershey during the first quarter worth about $55,269,000. Harvest Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Hershey by 39.7% during the first quarter. Harvest Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,857,000 after acquiring an additional 3,087 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Hershey by 14.8% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 7,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,319,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003 shares during the last quarter. 57.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on HSY shares. Piper Sandler upgraded Hershey from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $167.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. DA Davidson raised their target price on Hershey from $171.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Hershey from $187.00 to $189.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Morgan Stanley reiterated a “mixed” rating and set a $184.00 target price on shares of Hershey in a report on Friday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Hershey from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $179.21.

Hershey Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HSY opened at $166.01 on Wednesday. Hershey Company has a fifty-two week low of $140.13 and a fifty-two week high of $208.03. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $185.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market cap of $33.65 billion, a PE ratio of 22.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.26.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.24. Hershey had a return on equity of 37.36% and a net margin of 13.54%.The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.34 EPS. Hershey’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Hershey has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.900-6.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Hershey Company will post 6.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a $1.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.91%.

Insider Activity at Hershey

In other news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.52, for a total value of $281,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 56,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,654,698.88. This trade represents a 2.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.