Weatherly Asset Management L. P. Cuts Stake in Hershey Company (The) $HSY

Weatherly Asset Management L. P. lowered its stake in shares of Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) by 5.3% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,515 shares of the company’s stock after selling 140 shares during the period. Weatherly Asset Management L. P.’s holdings in Hershey were worth $417,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hershey by 18,311.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,010,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,728,460,000 after acquiring an additional 1,005,127 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Hershey by 6,721.3% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 819,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $140,150,000 after purchasing an additional 807,433 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Hershey by 25.4% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,753,077 shares of the company’s stock worth $470,858,000 after purchasing an additional 557,056 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Hershey by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,991,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $853,720,000 after purchasing an additional 356,249 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Hershey by 40.4% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 1,237,107 shares of the company’s stock worth $208,227,000 after acquiring an additional 356,105 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HSY has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Hershey from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Hershey from $135.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Hershey from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $222.00 in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Hershey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $173.89.

Insider Activity

In other Hershey news, CEO Michele Buck sold 19,290 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $3,472,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 193,624 shares in the company, valued at $34,852,320. The trade was a 9.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP James Turoff sold 1,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 25,321 shares in the company, valued at $4,431,175. This represents a 4.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 87,627 shares of company stock worth $16,043,435. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hershey Stock Performance

NYSE:HSY opened at $190.03 on Friday. Hershey Company has a twelve month low of $140.13 and a twelve month high of $208.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The company has a 50-day moving average of $182.59 and a 200-day moving average of $172.24. The firm has a market cap of $38.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.57 and a beta of 0.27.

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

Hershey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $1.37 per share. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.