Rakuten Securities Inc. Purchases New Shares in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hershey by 1.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,911,173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,983,427,000 after acquiring an additional 222,960 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Hershey by 9.1% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,489,322 shares of the company’s stock valued at $886,746,000 after acquiring an additional 290,920 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Hershey by 57.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,648,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $613,352,000 after acquiring an additional 964,019 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Hershey by 143.7% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,465,403 shares of the company’s stock valued at $496,039,000 after acquiring an additional 1,453,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Hershey by 2.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,779,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,052,000 after acquiring an additional 35,393 shares in the last quarter. 57.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on HSY. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Hershey from $205.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Hershey from $185.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Hershey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Hershey from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hershey has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $223.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hershey

In other Hershey news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 40,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,961,121.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Hershey news, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 453 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.54, for a total transaction of $89,938.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $369,681.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $296,850.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,961,121.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,453 shares of company stock valued at $670,244. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hershey Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE HSY opened at $184.86 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $192.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $191.07. The firm has a market cap of $37.70 billion, a PE ratio of 20.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.52.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.66 billion during 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.02 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that The Hershey Company will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

Hershey Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a dividend of $1.37 per share. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. This is an increase from Hershey’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.19. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.55%.

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.