Hershey Company (The) $HSY Stake Increased by RKL Wealth Management LLC

RKL Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) by 1.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,958 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. RKL Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Hershey were worth $1,155,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Kennon Green & Company LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hershey by 33.3% during the first quarter. Kennon Green & Company LLC now owns 43,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,379,000 after acquiring an additional 10,784 shares in the last quarter. William Allan Corp grew its position in shares of Hershey by 173.1% in the first quarter. William Allan Corp now owns 18,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,180,000 after purchasing an additional 11,785 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its position in shares of Hershey by 9.5% in the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 31,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,460,000 after purchasing an additional 2,757 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its position in Hershey by 8.1% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 18,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,186,000 after buying an additional 1,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Hershey during the first quarter worth about $55,269,000. 57.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hershey

In other news, CEO Michele Buck sold 19,290 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.00, for a total transaction of $3,742,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 193,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,563,056. This trade represents a 9.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.12, for a total transaction of $283,680.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 58,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,029,289.28. This represents a 2.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 65,704 shares of company stock worth $12,206,910 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on HSY shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Hershey from $154.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Hershey from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $222.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Hershey from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Hershey from $155.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Hershey from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two investment 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $174.05.

Hershey Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of HSY stock opened at $188.80 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.53. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $185.22 and its 200-day moving average is $172.84. The stock has a market cap of $38.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.07, a PEG ratio of 4.52 and a beta of 0.26. Hershey Company has a 52-week low of $140.13 and a 52-week high of $208.03.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.23. Hershey had a net margin of 13.54% and a return on equity of 37.36%. The business had revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.27 EPS. Hershey’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. Sell-side analysts predict that Hershey Company will post 6.12 EPS for the current year.

Hershey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $1.37 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.