Johnson Financial Group Inc. Acquires Shares of 3,007 Hershey Company (The) $HSY

Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSYFree Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 3,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $528,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Hershey by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,067,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,469,855,000 after buying an additional 191,671 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Hershey in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,303,889,000. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Hershey by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 9,106,431 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,657,189,000 after acquiring an additional 169,660 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Hershey by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,253,041 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,356,681,000 after purchasing an additional 128,982 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hershey by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,315,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $967,343,000 after purchasing an additional 124,464 shares in the last quarter. 57.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Hershey

In related news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $255,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 53,195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,043,150. The trade was a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HSY. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Hershey from $249.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Hershey from $190.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. TD Cowen upgraded Hershey from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Hershey from $191.00 to $193.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and set a $201.00 target price on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hershey currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $203.61.

View Our Latest Report on HSY

Hershey Trading Up 3.0%

HSY opened at $189.04 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $178.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $195.61. Hershey Company has a fifty-two week low of $161.43 and a fifty-two week high of $239.48. The company has a market cap of $37.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Hershey (NYSE:HSYGet Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.63 billion. Hershey had a return on equity of 31.92% and a net margin of 12.24%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.21 earnings per share. Hershey has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.360-8.520 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hershey Company will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.452 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $5.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.37%.

About Hershey

(Free Report)

The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) is a leading North American chocolatier and snack manufacturer headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The company develops, produces and markets a wide range of confectionery and snack products for retail, foodservice and international customers. Hershey’s business spans manufacturing, branded product marketing, packaging and distribution across grocery, convenience, mass merchant and e-commerce channels.

Hershey’s product portfolio centers on chocolate and sugar confectionery, including core brands such as Hershey’s, Reese’s, Hershey’s Kisses and Twizzlers, alongside non-chocolate snacks and confectionery brands.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Hershey (NYSE:HSY)

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