United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Buys New Shares in Hershey Company (The) $HSY

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 3,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $702,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HSY. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Hershey in the second quarter valued at about $2,303,889,000. GQG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hershey during the second quarter worth about $485,436,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Hershey during the second quarter worth about $274,871,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Hershey in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $272,506,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Hershey in the second quarter valued at approximately $183,623,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HSY has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $201.00 price target on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Hershey from $208.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Hershey from $212.00 to $206.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Hershey from $191.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $191.00 target price on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $204.78.

Insider Activity

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

Hershey Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of HSY stock opened at $179.34 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $179.18 and a 200 day moving average of $194.29. 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 stock has a market cap of $36.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.11. Hershey Company has a twelve month low of $161.43 and a twelve month high of $239.48.

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

Hershey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a $1.452 dividend. This represents a $5.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. Hershey’s payout ratio is currently 79.23%.

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.