Cetera Investment Advisers Sells 15,197 Shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Cetera Investment Advisers reduced its position in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) by 17.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 71,350 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,197 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Hershey were worth $12,083,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Montag & Caldwell LLC acquired a new position in Hershey during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Hershey during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Grove Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Hershey by 248.0% during the 4th quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 174 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new stake in Hershey in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in Hershey in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. 57.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on HSY shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Hershey from $125.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Hershey from $183.00 to $177.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Hershey from $171.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Bernstein Bank reduced their price objective on Hershey from $177.00 to $146.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Hershey from $150.00 to $134.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $161.40.

Hershey Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE HSY opened at $171.00 on Friday. The Hershey Company has a one year low of $140.13 and a one year high of $211.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $168.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $168.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.69, a P/E/G ratio of 5.90 and a beta of 0.32.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.81 billion. Hershey had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 44.77%. Hershey’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.07 EPS. Research analysts expect that The Hershey Company will post 6.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $1.37 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.57%.

Hershey Company 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.