Hershey Company (The) $HSY Shares Sold by Isthmus Partners LLC

Isthmus Partners LLC cut its stake in Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) by 18.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 59,301 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,080 shares during the quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC’s holdings in Hershey were worth $12,328,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Syon Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Hershey by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 3,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $550,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Haverford Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Hershey by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 6,796 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,237,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Hershey by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,561 shares of the company’s stock worth $466,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC lifted its position in Hershey by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 8,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,462,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC boosted its holdings in Hershey by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,070 shares of the company’s stock worth $559,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on HSY. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Hershey from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. TD Cowen raised shares of Hershey from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Hershey to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $240.00 price target on shares of Hershey in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore raised shares of Hershey from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $255.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $217.50.

Hershey Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HSY opened at $174.44 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Hershey Company has a fifty-two week low of $160.07 and a fifty-two week high of $239.48. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $184.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $197.83. The firm has a market cap of $35.38 billion, a PE ratio of 32.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.11.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.03 billion. Hershey had a return on equity of 28.98% and a net margin of 9.12%.Hershey’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Hershey Company will post 8.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Hershey

In other Hershey news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.43, for a total transaction of $260,145.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 54,695 shares in the company, valued at $9,485,753.85. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.