Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. Takes Position in Hershey Company (The) $HSY

Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 1,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $271,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of HSY. NBC Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hershey by 113,833.3% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 3,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $584,000 after acquiring an additional 3,415 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Hershey by 51.6% during the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 27,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,762,000 after acquiring an additional 9,475 shares in the last quarter. Triangle Securities Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Hershey by 8.1% during the first quarter. Triangle Securities Wealth Management now owns 2,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $447,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Apella Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hershey during the first quarter valued at approximately $309,000. Finally, Portside Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Hershey by 12.9% during the first quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $724,000 after acquiring an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Hershey from $175.00 to $208.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Hershey in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $187.00 price objective for the company. 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 note on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Hershey from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Hershey from $160.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $174.05.

Hershey Price Performance

NYSE HSY opened at $189.00 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $185.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $172.97. 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 Company has a 12-month low of $140.13 and a 12-month high of $208.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.10, a P/E/G ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 0.26.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $1.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.0% on a year-over-year basis. Hershey has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.809-5.997 EPS. Analysts forecast that Hershey Company will post 6.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a $1.37 dividend. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Hershey’s payout ratio is currently 72.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $900,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 61,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,037,420. The trade was a 7.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Rohit Grover sold 1,334 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $240,120.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 38,068 shares in the company, valued at $6,852,240. This trade represents a 3.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 65,704 shares of company stock valued at $12,206,910. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.