First National Trust Co Reduces Stock Holdings in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

First National Trust Co cut its position in shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) by 7.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,259 shares of the company’s stock after selling 262 shares during the quarter. First National Trust Co’s holdings in Hershey were worth $608,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Hershey by 1.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,911,173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,983,427,000 after acquiring an additional 222,960 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Hershey by 143.7% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,465,403 shares of the company’s stock worth $496,039,000 after purchasing an additional 1,453,819 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Hershey by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,779,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,052,000 after buying an additional 35,393 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in Hershey by 0.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,170,830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $234,260,000 after buying an additional 8,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Hershey by 2.2% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 997,329 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,085,000 after buying an additional 21,229 shares during the period. 57.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Hershey from $185.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Hershey from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Morgan Stanley lowered Hershey from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $191.00 to $183.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Hershey from $205.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $213.00 price target on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, March 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hershey presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $212.78.

Hershey Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE HSY traded up $2.04 during trading on Friday, reaching $197.92. 3,396,043 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,711,441. The Hershey Company has a 1 year low of $178.82 and a 1 year high of $275.89. The stock has a market cap of $40.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.33. 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 has a 50 day moving average price of $191.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $190.76.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The company reported $3.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.74 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $3.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.11 billion. Hershey had a return on equity of 51.79% and a net margin of 16.67%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.96 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Hershey Company will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $1.37 dividend. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.31%.

Insider Activity at Hershey

In other news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $296,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,961,121.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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.