Verity & Verity LLC Decreases Stock Position in Hershey Company (The) $HSY

Verity & Verity LLC lowered its position in Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) by 24.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 62,339 shares of the company’s stock after selling 19,883 shares during the quarter. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Hershey were worth $10,345,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH bought a new position in Hershey during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new stake in shares of Hershey in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Hershey in the second quarter worth about $39,000. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Hershey in the first quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Hershey by 934.5% in the second quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.56, for a total transaction of $269,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 55,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,933,079.64. This trade represents a 2.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 6,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,103,640. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on HSY. Wall Street Zen upgraded Hershey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Barclays set a $188.00 price objective on shares of Hershey in a report on Monday, November 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Hershey from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Hershey from $167.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Hershey from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $222.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $179.74.

Hershey Stock Up 0.0%

Hershey stock opened at $186.08 on Tuesday. Hershey Company has a 52 week low of $140.13 and a 52 week high of $208.03. The stock has a market cap of $37.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.77, a PEG ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.24. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $183.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $177.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.24. Hershey had a return on equity of 37.36% and a net margin of 13.54%.The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.34 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Hershey has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.900-6.000 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Hershey Company will post 6.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a $1.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Hershey’s payout ratio is 81.91%.

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.