Insider Selling: The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) CFO Sells $296,850.00 in Stock

The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was 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 directly owns 40,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,961,121.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Hershey Trading Up 0.4 %

Hershey stock opened at $194.54 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $39.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.34. The Hershey Company has a 1 year low of $178.82 and a 1 year high of $276.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $193.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $192.80.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. Hershey had a net margin of 16.67% and a return on equity of 51.79%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.02 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that The Hershey Company will post 9.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a $1.37 dividend. This is a positive change from Hershey’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.19. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. Hershey’s payout ratio is 60.55%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Hershey by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,182,809 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,830,683,000 after buying an additional 271,636 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Hershey by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,160,022 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,785,458,000 after purchasing an additional 465,423 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Hershey by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,144,337 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,783,941,000 after purchasing an additional 111,357 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Hershey by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,489,322 shares of the company’s stock worth $886,746,000 after purchasing an additional 290,920 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Hershey by 57.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,648,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $613,352,000 after purchasing an additional 964,019 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HSY has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson initiated coverage on shares of Hershey in a report on Friday, December 8th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 target price on the stock. 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. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Hershey from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $213.00 price target on shares of Hershey in a research note on Friday, March 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $225.48.

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.