Sapient Capital LLC Sells 831 Shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Sapient Capital LLC cut its stake in shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) by 30.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,890 shares of the company’s stock after selling 831 shares during the quarter. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Hershey were worth $368,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Hershey by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 2,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $549,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Hershey by 1,074.3% during the 1st quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC now owns 29,815 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,799,000 after acquiring an additional 27,276 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hershey during the 1st quarter valued at $387,000. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Hershey by 28.2% during the 1st quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,405 shares of the company’s stock valued at $273,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. Finally, Donaldson Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Hershey by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 20,831 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,052,000 after acquiring an additional 2,510 shares during the period. 57.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on HSY shares. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Hershey from $200.00 to $179.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Edward Jones restated a “hold” rating on shares of Hershey in a report on Friday, April 19th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Hershey from $213.00 to $199.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Hershey from $205.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Hershey from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hershey currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $212.78.

Hershey Stock Performance

NYSE:HSY traded up $1.45 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $193.92. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,132,628 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,972,461. The Hershey Company has a 12-month low of $178.82 and a 12-month high of $276.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $191.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $190.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $39.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.43, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.34.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last released its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $2.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.72 billion. Hershey had a return on equity of 51.79% and a net margin of 16.67%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.02 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Hershey Company will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Increases Dividend

The company 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 is an increase from Hershey’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.19. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. Hershey’s payout ratio is currently 60.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hershey

In other Hershey news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $296,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,961,121.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $296,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,961,121.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 453 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.54, for a total value of $89,938.62. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $369,681.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,453 shares of company stock worth $665,534 in the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.