Valley Forge Investment Consultants Inc. ADV Invests $675,000 in Hershey Company (The) $HSY

Valley Forge Investment Consultants Inc. ADV bought a new stake in shares of Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 3,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $675,000. Hershey comprises 0.2% of Valley Forge Investment Consultants Inc. ADV’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Hershey in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,303,889,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Hershey in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $272,506,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in Hershey by 546.6% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,057,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $192,439,000 after purchasing an additional 893,940 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Hershey by 315.4% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,083,675 shares of the company’s stock valued at $225,285,000 after buying an additional 822,772 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Hershey by 150.1% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,278,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $232,731,000 after buying an additional 767,478 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Hershey Stock Performance

NYSE HSY opened at $183.67 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $177.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $195.62. The company has a market cap of $36.90 billion, a PE ratio of 25.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.11. Hershey Company has a 1-year low of $161.43 and a 1-year high of $239.48.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.21 earnings per share. Hershey has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.360-8.520 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Hershey Company will post 8.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Hershey

In related news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $255,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 53,195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,043,150. The trade was a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HSY. Jefferies Financial Group set a $190.00 target price on Hershey in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $201.00 price target on shares of Hershey in a report on Friday, July 31st. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Hershey from $195.00 to $185.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Hershey in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, DA Davidson set a $190.00 target price on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $203.61.

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.