Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-three research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $218.0556.

HSY has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Hershey from $195.00 to $185.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Hershey from $211.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Hershey from $212.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 30th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Hershey from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $240.00 price target on shares of Hershey in a research note on Friday, May 1st.

Insider Activity at Hershey

In other news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.10, for a total value of $291,150.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 57,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,198,599.50. The trade was a 2.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hershey

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HSY. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Hershey by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 15,310 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,618,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hershey by 20.2% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new stake in shares of Hershey in the 2nd quarter valued at $267,000. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in shares of Hershey by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 17,927 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,975,000 after purchasing an additional 769 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Hershey by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 22,247 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,149 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Hershey Trading Down 3.7%

Shares of HSY stock opened at $175.73 on Thursday. Hershey has a 1 year low of $160.07 and a 1 year high of $239.48. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $189.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $198.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.31. Hershey had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 28.98%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.09 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Hershey will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Hershey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a $1.452 dividend. This represents a $5.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Hershey’s payout ratio is currently 108.19%.

About Hershey

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.