M3 Advisory Group LLC Invests $274,000 in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

M3 Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $274,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Hershey by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,182,809 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,830,683,000 after purchasing an additional 271,636 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Hershey by 143.7% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,465,403 shares of the company’s stock worth $496,039,000 after purchasing an additional 1,453,819 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Hershey during the 4th quarter worth approximately $349,448,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Hershey by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,779,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,052,000 after buying an additional 35,393 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in Hershey by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,170,830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $234,260,000 after buying an additional 8,344 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 4,500 shares of company stock valued at $882,405. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on HSY shares. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Hershey from $213.00 to $199.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Hershey from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Hershey from $200.00 to $179.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Edward Jones reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $213.00 price objective on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, March 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.56.

Hershey Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HSY traded down $3.93 on Monday, hitting $183.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,642,544 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,872,013. The Hershey Company has a 12-month low of $178.82 and a 12-month high of $262.30. The company has a market capitalization of $37.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.18 and a beta of 0.37. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $194.78 and a 200-day moving average of $192.50.

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

Hershey Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were given a dividend of $1.37 per share. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.31%.

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.