Opal Capital LLC Buys Shares of 30,748 Hershey Company (The) $HSY

Opal Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 30,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,596,000. Hershey accounts for about 1.4% of Opal Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in HSY. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Hershey by 6.5% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 15,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,618,000 after buying an additional 937 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hershey by 20.2% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new stake in shares of Hershey during the second quarter worth $267,000. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in shares of Hershey by 4.5% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 17,927 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,975,000 after buying an additional 769 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Hershey by 5.4% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 22,247 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,692,000 after buying an additional 1,149 shares during the period. 57.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.10, for a total transaction of $291,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 57,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,198,599.50. This trade represents a 2.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hershey Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of Hershey stock opened at $182.60 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $190.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $198.60. Hershey Company has a 1 year low of $160.07 and a 1 year high of $239.48. The stock has a market cap of $37.04 billion, a PE ratio of 34.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.09.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.31. Hershey had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 28.98%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Hershey Company will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $1.452 per share. This represents a $5.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 108.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on HSY shares. Evercore upgraded shares of Hershey from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $255.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Hershey in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Hershey from $195.00 to $185.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Hershey from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Hershey from $225.00 to $220.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $218.06.

About Hershey

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.