The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) Receives $223.33 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $212.78.

HSY has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $213.00 target price on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Hershey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Edward Jones reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Hershey from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Hershey from $185.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 453 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.54, for a total value of $89,938.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,862 shares in the company, valued at approximately $369,681.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.83, for a total transaction of $278,745.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,728 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,196,824.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 453 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.54, for a total value of $89,938.62. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $369,681.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,453 shares of company stock worth $665,534. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HSY. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Hershey during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $349,448,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Hershey by 143.7% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,465,403 shares of the company’s stock worth $496,039,000 after acquiring an additional 1,453,819 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Hershey by 18,495.8% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 295,673 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,125,000 after acquiring an additional 294,083 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Hershey by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,182,809 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,830,683,000 after acquiring an additional 271,636 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Hershey by 98.4% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 419,947 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,680,000 after acquiring an additional 208,293 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Hershey Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:HSY opened at $193.70 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Hershey has a 52-week low of $178.82 and a 52-week high of $276.71. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $191.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $190.68. The company has a market capitalization of $39.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.34.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.07. Hershey had a return on equity of 51.79% and a net margin of 16.67%. The business had revenue of $2.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.02 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Hershey will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $1.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. This is an increase from Hershey’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.19. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. Hershey’s payout ratio is currently 60.55%.

About Hershey

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.