Raiffeisen Bank International AG Invests $177,000 in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new position in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $177,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in HSY. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hershey by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 6,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,066,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Hershey by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,293,000 after purchasing an additional 896 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hershey by 80.1% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 18,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,111,000 after purchasing an additional 8,171 shares during the period. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hershey in the fourth quarter valued at about $247,000. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hershey by 20.7% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $607,000 after purchasing an additional 616 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on HSY. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Hershey from $183.00 to $177.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Hershey from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Hershey from $178.00 to $175.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Hershey from $170.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Hershey from $125.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hershey presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $161.40.

Hershey Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HSY opened at $158.49 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $32.08 billion, a PE ratio of 14.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.90 and a beta of 0.32. The Hershey Company has a 12 month low of $140.13 and a 12 month high of $209.65. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $166.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $167.70.

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

Hershey Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $1.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.46%. Hershey’s payout ratio is 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.