Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC Has $699,000 Stock Holdings in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC lowered its position in shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,749 shares of the company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC’s holdings in Hershey were worth $699,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HSY. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hershey by 11.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 237,380 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,495,000 after buying an additional 25,143 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Hershey by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,652 shares of the company’s stock worth $731,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Hershey by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,590 shares of the company’s stock valued at $318,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA raised its position in Hershey by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 10,689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,026,000 after purchasing an additional 1,160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Hershey by 440.6% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 173 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. 57.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on HSY. Morgan Stanley lowered Hershey from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $191.00 to $183.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Hershey from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Hershey from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $208.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Hershey from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Hershey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $213.06.

Hershey Stock Down 0.4 %

Hershey stock opened at $207.35 on Wednesday. The Hershey Company has a fifty-two week low of $178.82 and a fifty-two week high of $266.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.33. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $195.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $192.07.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The company reported $3.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.74 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.11 billion. Hershey had a net margin of 18.13% and a return on equity of 50.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.96 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Hershey Company will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

Hershey Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $1.37 per share. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.31%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.83, for a total transaction of $278,745.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,196,824.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.