Sage Mountain Advisors LLC Makes New $242,000 Investment in Hershey Company (The) $HSY

Sage Mountain Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $242,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of HSY. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hershey by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,011,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Hershey by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 2,118 shares of the company’s stock worth $362,000 after buying an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hershey by 346.9% in the 1st quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,247,000 after buying an additional 5,661 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hershey by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $942,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of Hershey by 26.2% in the 1st quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 962 shares of the company’s stock worth $165,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on HSY. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Hershey from $171.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $193.00 target price on Hershey in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Hershey from $187.00 to $189.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Hershey in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Hershey from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $177.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hershey

In other Hershey news, CEO Michele Buck sold 19,290 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.00, for a total transaction of $3,742,260.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 193,624 shares in the company, valued at $37,563,056. This represents a 9.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.52, for a total transaction of $281,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 56,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,654,698.88. The trade was a 2.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 22,290 shares of company stock worth $4,307,220. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Hershey Trading Down 1.1%

NYSE:HSY opened at $179.52 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $36.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.84, a P/E/G ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.26. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $186.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.65. Hershey Company has a 1 year low of $140.13 and a 1 year high of $208.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

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

Hershey Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $1.37 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.78%.

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.