12,569 Shares in Hershey Company (The) $HSY Bought by Dearborn Partners LLC

Dearborn Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 12,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,613,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Hershey by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,067,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,469,855,000 after acquiring an additional 191,671 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Hershey during the second quarter worth approximately $2,303,889,000. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Hershey by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 9,106,431 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,657,189,000 after purchasing an additional 169,660 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Hershey by 1.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,253,041 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,356,681,000 after purchasing an additional 128,982 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Hershey by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,315,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $967,343,000 after purchasing an additional 124,464 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Hershey Stock Up 1.9%

HSY stock opened at $189.92 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $178.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $195.40. Hershey Company has a 12 month low of $161.43 and a 12 month high of $239.48. The company has a market cap of $38.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.95, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.11.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.63 billion. Hershey had a return on equity of 31.92% and a net margin of 12.24%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. Hershey has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.360-8.520 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Hershey Company will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Hershey’s payout ratio is 79.23%.

Insider Transactions at Hershey

In other Hershey news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $255,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 53,195 shares in the company, valued at $9,043,150. This represents a 2.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on HSY. Evercore set a $225.00 target price on Hershey in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Hershey from $190.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Hershey from $215.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $201.00 target price on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, DA Davidson set a $190.00 target price on shares of Hershey in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $204.78.

Hershey 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.