Hershey Company (The) $HSY Shares Sold by Verity & Verity LLC

Verity & Verity LLC reduced its position in Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) by 82.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 11,091 shares of the company’s stock after selling 51,248 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Hershey were worth $2,075,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Hershey by 16.5% during the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $559,000 after buying an additional 462 shares during the period. Amundi increased its stake in shares of Hershey by 40.4% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 1,237,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $208,227,000 after acquiring an additional 356,105 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hershey by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 33,344 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,703,000 after acquiring an additional 2,322 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Hershey by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 15,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,618,000 after acquiring an additional 937 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Hershey by 41.2% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 8,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,507,000 after acquiring an additional 2,569 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.51, for a total transaction of $282,765.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 53,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,145,419.69. The trade was a 2.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Stacy Taffet purchased 200 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $186.19 per share, with a total value of $37,238.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,371 shares in the company, valued at $1,744,786.49. This trade represents a 2.18% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 6,000 shares of company stock worth $1,102,725 in the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on HSY shares. Argus raised shares of Hershey to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. DA Davidson cut their target price on Hershey from $188.00 to $185.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Hershey in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Hershey from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $211.00 in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on Hershey from $204.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hershey currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $184.95.

Hershey Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE HSY opened at $182.38 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $36.98 billion, a PE ratio of 27.26 and a beta of 0.18. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $180.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $181.38. Hershey Company has a fifty-two week low of $140.13 and a fifty-two week high of $199.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.24. Hershey had a net margin of 11.84% and a return on equity of 32.08%. The business had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.34 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Hershey has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.900-6.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Hershey Company will post 6.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th were issued a $1.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 81.91%.

Hershey Profile

The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) is a leading North American chocolatier and snack manufacturer headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The company develops, produces and markets a wide range of confectionery and snack products for retail, foodservice and international customers. Hershey’s business spans manufacturing, branded product marketing, packaging and distribution across grocery, convenience, mass merchant and e-commerce channels.

Hershey’s product portfolio centers on chocolate and sugar confectionery, including core brands such as Hershey’s, Reese’s, Hershey’s Kisses and Twizzlers, alongside non-chocolate snacks and confectionery brands.