Accurate Wealth Management LLC Raises Stake in Hershey Company (The) $HSY

Accurate Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) by 20.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,972 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the period. Accurate Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Hershey were worth $325,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of HSY. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Hershey by 18,311.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,010,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,728,460,000 after buying an additional 1,005,127 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hershey by 6,721.3% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 819,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $140,150,000 after acquiring an additional 807,433 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Hershey by 25.4% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,753,077 shares of the company’s stock worth $470,858,000 after acquiring an additional 557,056 shares during the period. Scharf Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hershey in the second quarter worth approximately $90,588,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hershey by 7.7% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,991,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $853,720,000 after acquiring an additional 356,249 shares during the period. 57.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HSY has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Hershey from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Hershey from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $222.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Hershey from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Hershey from $154.00 to $157.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Hershey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $174.05.

Insider Activity at Hershey

In related news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.12, for a total value of $283,680.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 58,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,029,289.28. The trade was a 2.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Rohit Grover sold 1,334 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $240,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 38,068 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,852,240. This trade represents a 3.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 87,627 shares of company stock valued at $16,043,435 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Hershey Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HSY opened at $185.34 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.61, a PEG ratio of 4.61 and a beta of 0.27. Hershey Company has a 12 month low of $140.13 and a 12 month high of $208.03. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $184.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $172.46. 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 announced 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. Hershey had a net margin of 13.54% and a return on equity of 37.36%. The company had revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.27 EPS. The firm’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 expect that Hershey Company will post 6.12 EPS for the current year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a $1.37 dividend. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Hershey’s payout ratio is 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.