Engineers Gate Manager LP Acquires 81,675 Shares of Hershey Company (The) $HSY

Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its holdings in shares of Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) by 64.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 208,301 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 81,675 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP owned about 0.10% of Hershey worth $37,907,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HSY. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Hershey by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 15,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,618,000 after acquiring an additional 937 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hershey by 20.2% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL purchased a new stake in shares of Hershey during the 2nd quarter worth $267,000. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in shares of Hershey by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 17,927 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,975,000 after purchasing an additional 769 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Hershey by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 22,247 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,149 shares during the last quarter. 57.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Hershey Stock Performance

Shares of HSY stock opened at $175.73 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $35.64 billion, a PE ratio of 32.72, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.09. Hershey Company has a 12-month low of $160.07 and a 12-month high of $239.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $189.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $198.51.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.03 billion. Hershey had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 28.98%. Hershey’s revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. Analysts expect that Hershey Company will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $1.452 per share. This represents a $5.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. Hershey’s payout ratio is currently 108.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hershey news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.10, for a total transaction of $291,150.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 57,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,198,599.50. The trade was a 2.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HSY. Zacks Research cut Hershey from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Hershey from $225.00 to $220.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Hershey from $211.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $249.00 price objective on shares of Hershey in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Hershey from $247.00 to $227.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Seven 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, Hershey has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $218.06.

Hershey Company Profile

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.