Wealthquest Corp Purchases New Stake in Hershey Company (The) $HSY

Wealthquest Corp purchased a new stake in Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 7,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,318,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HSY. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Hershey by 240.0% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,262,671 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,183,000 after purchasing an additional 891,287 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hershey by 121.2% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,104,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $206,559,000 after purchasing an additional 605,048 shares during the last quarter. Candlestick Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Hershey in the third quarter valued at approximately $64,469,000. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hershey in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,464,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hershey by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,067,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,469,855,000 after purchasing an additional 191,671 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Hershey

In other news, insider Rohit Grover sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.07, for a total transaction of $791,245.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 34,568 shares in the company, valued at $7,814,787.76. This trade represents a 9.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.10, for a total value of $291,150.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 57,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,198,599.50. This represents a 2.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 8,500 shares of company stock worth $1,859,600 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HSY has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group cut their target price on Hershey from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Hershey in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Zacks Research cut Hershey from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Stephens raised their target price on Hershey from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Hershey in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hershey currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $217.78.

Hershey Price Performance

HSY stock opened at $194.64 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $199.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $197.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market cap of $39.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.07. Hershey Company has a 52-week low of $152.21 and a 52-week high of $239.48.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.31. Hershey had a return on equity of 28.98% and a net margin of 9.12%.The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Hershey Company will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Hershey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $1.452 per share. This represents a $5.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 108.01%.

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.