Hershey (NYSE:HSY) Price Target Raised to $210.00

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) had its price objective hoisted by investment analysts at Bank of America from $200.00 to $210.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Bank of America‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 10.50% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Hershey from $180.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Hershey in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Hershey from $187.00 to $189.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Barclays set a $188.00 target price on Hershey in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Hershey from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $170.00 to $222.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $184.95.

Hershey Stock Up 1.0%

NYSE HSY traded up $1.89 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $190.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 620,973 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,740,812. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.41 and a beta of 0.19. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $181.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $180.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Hershey has a twelve month low of $140.13 and a twelve month high of $199.00.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.11 billion. Hershey had a net margin of 11.84% and a return on equity of 32.08%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.34 earnings per share. Hershey has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.900-6.000 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Hershey will post 6.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Hershey

In other news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.56, for a total value of $269,340.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 55,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,933,079.64. The trade was a 2.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Stacy Taffet purchased 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $186.19 per share, for a total transaction of $37,238.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 9,371 shares in the company, valued at $1,744,786.49. This represents a 2.18% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 4,500 shares of company stock worth $819,960 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hershey

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HSY. Farmers National Bank purchased a new position in Hershey in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $235,000. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Hershey by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 35,617 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,662,000 after acquiring an additional 689 shares during the last quarter. Investment Research Partners LLC purchased a new position in Hershey in the third quarter worth $515,000. Cambria Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in Hershey in the third quarter valued at $241,000. Finally, CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in Hershey during the third quarter valued at about $10,235,000. 57.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hershey Company Profile

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.