New Century Financial Group LLC Increases Stock Position in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

New Century Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) by 18.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,247 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 347 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Hershey were worth $437,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wealth Alliance lifted its holdings in Hershey by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 1,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $212,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. AJOVista LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hershey in the fourth quarter valued at about $153,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. boosted its holdings in Hershey by 1,263.3% during the fourth quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 15,105 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,816,000 after buying an additional 13,997 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new position in Hershey during the fourth quarter worth about $2,332,000. Finally, Reliant Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hershey during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,173,000. 57.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on HSY shares. Argus lowered their price target on Hershey from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Citigroup cut their price target on Hershey from $213.00 to $199.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Hershey from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $208.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $213.00 target price on shares of Hershey in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $179.00 price target on shares of Hershey in a report on Friday, June 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hershey presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $209.67.

Hershey Trading Down 0.5 %

Hershey stock traded down $0.90 during trading on Thursday, reaching $183.75. The company had a trading volume of 1,014,814 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,569,323. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.21, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.36. The Hershey Company has a 12-month low of $178.82 and a 12-month high of $251.71. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $194.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $192.16.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 3rd. The company reported $3.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.74 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.25 billion during 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 in the previous year, the company earned $2.96 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Hershey Company will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a $1.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.31%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.54, for a total value of $306,810.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at $7,614,615.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 4,500 shares of company stock valued at $859,950 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.