The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) CFO Steven E. Voskuil Sells 1,500 Shares

The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.54, for a total transaction of $306,810.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at $7,614,615.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Hershey Stock Performance

HSY stock traded down $4.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $197.00. 1,880,152 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,852,444. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $195.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $192.29. The Hershey Company has a one year low of $178.82 and a one year high of $263.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.50 and a beta of 0.33.

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

Hershey Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.37 per share. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.31%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hershey

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hershey by 14.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,341,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,372,965,000 after buying an additional 2,158,912 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Hershey by 143.7% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,465,403 shares of the company’s stock worth $496,039,000 after buying an additional 1,453,819 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Hershey during the fourth quarter worth $349,448,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Hershey by 2.0% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,779,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,052,000 after buying an additional 35,393 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hershey by 6.5% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,487,565 shares of the company’s stock worth $289,327,000 after buying an additional 90,329 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on HSY. Barclays raised their target price 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. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Hershey from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $191.00 to $183.00 in a report on Monday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Hershey from $185.00 to $193.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Hershey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Hershey from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $208.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $213.06.

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.