FY2025 Earnings Estimate for Hershey Issued By DA Davidson

Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) – Investment analysts at DA Davidson upped their FY2025 earnings per share estimates for Hershey in a research report issued on Monday, November 10th. DA Davidson analyst B. Holland now expects that the company will post earnings of $5.96 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $5.89. DA Davidson has a “Neutral” rating and a $185.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Hershey’s current full-year earnings is $6.12 per share. DA Davidson also issued estimates for Hershey’s FY2026 earnings at $6.50 EPS.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on HSY. BNP Paribas Exane raised Hershey from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Wall Street Zen raised Hershey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Evercore ISI reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Hershey from $155.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Hershey from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $170.00 to $222.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $179.05.

Hershey Trading Up 2.2%

NYSE HSY opened at $172.70 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Hershey has a twelve month low of $140.13 and a twelve month high of $208.03. The company has a market cap of $35.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.24. The business’s fifty day moving average is $184.33 and its 200 day moving average is $176.18.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last issued its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.11 billion. Hershey had a net margin of 13.54% and a return on equity of 37.36%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.34 earnings per share. Hershey has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.900-6.000 EPS.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.37 per share. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.52, for a total value of $281,280.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 56,819 shares in the company, valued at $10,654,698.88. The trade was a 2.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HSY. William Allan Corp grew its stake in Hershey by 173.1% in the first quarter. William Allan Corp now owns 18,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,180,000 after acquiring an additional 11,785 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Hershey in the 2nd quarter worth $224,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Hershey in the 1st quarter valued at $55,269,000. Harvest Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Hershey by 39.7% during the 1st quarter. Harvest Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,857,000 after purchasing an additional 3,087 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Hershey by 21.5% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 710,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,477,000 after buying an additional 125,509 shares during the last quarter. 57.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.