Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC Takes Position in Hershey Company (The) $HSY

Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 1,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of HSY. Kennon Green & Company LLC raised its holdings in Hershey by 33.3% in the 1st quarter. Kennon Green & Company LLC now owns 43,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,379,000 after acquiring an additional 10,784 shares during the period. William Allan Corp raised its holdings in Hershey by 173.1% in the 1st 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 period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its holdings in Hershey by 9.5% in the 1st 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 period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in Hershey by 8.1% in the 1st 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 period. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Hershey in the 1st quarter worth $55,269,000. Institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HSY has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Hershey from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Hershey from $155.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Hershey from $178.00 to $175.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Hershey from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Hershey from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hershey has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $170.83.

Insider Activity

In other Hershey news, CEO Michele Buck sold 31,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.80, for a total value of $5,018,568.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 193,624 shares in the company, valued at $31,134,739.20. The trade was a 13.88% 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. Also, SVP James Turoff sold 1,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $227,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 25,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,431,175. This trade represents a 4.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 117,337 shares of company stock valued at $20,778,323 in the last ninety days. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hershey Price Performance

Shares of Hershey stock opened at $183.36 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.53. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $176.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.89. Hershey Company has a twelve month low of $140.13 and a twelve month high of $208.03. The firm has a market cap of $37.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.27.

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

Hershey Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $1.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Hershey’s payout ratio is 72.78%.

About Hershey

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.