Hershey Company (The) $HSY Shares Sold by Mutual Advisors LLC

Mutual Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) by 25.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,302 shares of the company’s stock after selling 781 shares during the quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC’s holdings in Hershey were worth $382,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kennon Green & Company LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hershey by 33.3% in the first quarter. Kennon Green & Company LLC now owns 43,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,379,000 after purchasing an additional 10,784 shares in the last quarter. William Allan Corp lifted its stake in Hershey by 173.1% in 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. IFM Investors Pty Ltd lifted its stake in Hershey by 9.5% in the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 31,925 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,460,000 after acquiring an additional 2,757 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in Hershey by 8.1% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 18,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,186,000 after acquiring an additional 1,390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Hershey in the first quarter worth approximately $55,269,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Hershey from $192.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Hershey from $187.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Hershey from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Hershey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Hershey from $160.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $176.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Michele Buck sold 19,290 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.00, for a total value of $3,742,260.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 193,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,563,056. The trade was a 9.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.12, for a total transaction of $283,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 58,319 shares in the company, valued at $11,029,289.28. The trade was a 2.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 40,080 shares of company stock worth $7,594,590 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Hershey Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:HSY opened at $186.18 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $37.74 billion, a PE ratio of 24.73, a P/E/G ratio of 4.53 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Hershey Company has a twelve month low of $140.13 and a twelve month high of $208.03. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $186.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.05.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. Hershey had a net margin of 13.54% and a return on equity of 37.36%. The company’s revenue was up 26.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.27 EPS. Hershey has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.809-5.997 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Hershey Company will post 6.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a $1.37 dividend. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Hershey’s payout ratio is presently 72.78%.

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.