Terril Brothers Inc. Purchases New Shares in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Terril Brothers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 23,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,426,000. Hershey makes up about 1.6% of Terril Brothers Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of HSY. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in Hershey by 7.8% during the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $225,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its stake in Hershey by 78.8% during the third quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 14,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,938,000 after purchasing an additional 6,472 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Hershey by 3,285.7% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 474 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hershey by 12.8% in the third quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of Hershey by 50.2% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 26,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,240,000 after acquiring an additional 8,758 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Hershey Stock Down 0.5 %

HSY traded down $0.99 during trading on Friday, hitting $186.16. The stock had a trading volume of 1,186,506 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,496,720. The company has a market capitalization of $37.97 billion, a PE ratio of 20.57, a PEG ratio of 2.86 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $191.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $190.62.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.72 billion. Hershey had a net margin of 16.67% and a return on equity of 51.79%. Hershey’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that The Hershey Company will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Hershey Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $1.37 per share. This is an increase from Hershey’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.19. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. Hershey’s payout ratio is presently 60.55%.

Insider Transactions at Hershey

In other news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $296,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,228 shares in the company, valued at $7,961,121.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $296,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 40,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,961,121.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 453 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.54, for a total transaction of $89,938.62. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $369,681.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,453 shares of company stock worth $665,534. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HSY has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Hershey from $213.00 to $199.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Hershey from $205.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Hershey from $185.00 to $193.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Hershey from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $191.00 to $183.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Hershey from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hershey presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $223.33.

Hershey Company Profile

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.