Hershey Company (The) $HSY Shares Purchased by Douglas Lane & Associates LLC

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC raised its holdings in Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) by 14.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 494,484 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 62,730 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Hershey were worth $77,936,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Syon Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Hershey by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 3,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $550,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Sylvest Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hershey by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Sylvest Advisors LLC now owns 5,042 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,048,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Faithward Advisors LLC grew its stake in Hershey by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Faithward Advisors LLC now owns 2,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $534,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Delta Asset Management LLC TN boosted its stake in Hershey by 17.1% in the 2nd quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN now owns 410 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hershey by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 2,316 shares of the company’s stock worth $481,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. 57.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Hershey from $215.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $191.00 price target on shares of Hershey in a report on Friday, July 31st. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Hershey in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Hershey from $249.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on Hershey from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $203.67.

Hershey Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE:HSY traded down $0.39 on Friday, hitting $162.15. 296,853 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,853,578. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $174.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $183.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 1.18. Hershey Company has a 52 week low of $156.16 and a 52 week high of $239.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.10.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.47. Hershey had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 31.92%. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.63 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.21 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Hershey has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.360-8.520 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Hershey Company will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Hershey Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th were given a dividend of $1.4520 per share. This represents a $5.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. Hershey’s payout ratio is 79.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hershey

In other news, CFO Steven Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $255,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 53,195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,043,150. This trade represents a 2.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

About Hershey

The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) is a global confectionery and snack food company headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Founded by Milton S. Hershey in 1894, the company began as a chocolate manufacturer and has grown into one of the largest producers of confectionery products in North America.

Hershey’s portfolio includes chocolate, candy, gum, mints, protein bars and salty snacks. Its well-known brands include Hershey’s, Reese’s, Kisses, Kit Kat, Jolly Rancher, Twizzlers, Ice Breakers, SkinnyPop and Dot’s.