Northstar Advisory Group LLC Sells 7,356 Shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Northstar Advisory Group LLC cut its position in shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) by 67.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,511 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,356 shares during the period. Northstar Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Hershey were worth $655,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of HSY. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hershey by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,160,022 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,785,458,000 after acquiring an additional 465,423 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hershey by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,911,173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,983,427,000 after acquiring an additional 222,960 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Hershey by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,144,337 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,783,941,000 after acquiring an additional 111,357 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hershey by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,489,322 shares of the company’s stock valued at $886,746,000 after acquiring an additional 290,920 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Hershey by 57.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,648,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $613,352,000 after acquiring an additional 964,019 shares during the period. 57.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hershey Stock Performance

NYSE HSY opened at $195.46 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.40, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.34. The Hershey Company has a twelve month low of $178.82 and a twelve month high of $276.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $193.22 and a 200 day moving average of $192.79.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.72 billion. Hershey had a return on equity of 51.79% and a net margin of 16.67%. Hershey’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Hershey Company will post 9.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $1.37 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. This is a boost from Hershey’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.19. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hershey

In other Hershey news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.97, for a total transaction of $283,455.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 29,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,634,329.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 453 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.54, for a total value of $89,938.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,862 shares in the company, valued at $369,681.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.97, for a total value of $283,455.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 29,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,634,329.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,518 shares of company stock valued at $1,066,414 over the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HSY has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Hershey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Hershey from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $213.00 target price on shares of Hershey in a research note on Friday, March 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Hershey from $185.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Hershey from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hershey presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $225.48.

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.