Hershey (NYSE:HSY) Hits New 1-Year Low – Here’s Why

Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) shares reached a new 52-week low on Tuesday. The stock traded as low as $161.04 and last traded at $161.2390, with a volume of 482343 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $164.41.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on HSY. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and set a $201.00 price target on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, July 31st. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Hershey in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Hershey from $215.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Hershey from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on Hershey from $249.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $204.78.

Hershey Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $176.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.30. The stock has a market cap of $31.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.56, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 1.18.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.63 billion. Hershey had a return on equity of 31.92% and a net margin of 12.24%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.21 earnings per share. Hershey has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.360-8.520 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Hershey Company will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a $1.4520 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $5.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. Hershey’s payout ratio is presently 79.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Steven Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $255,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 53,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,043,150. This trade represents a 2.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HSY. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Hershey in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,303,889,000. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Hershey by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 9,106,431 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,657,189,000 after acquiring an additional 169,660 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hershey in the second quarter valued at about $485,436,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Hershey in the second quarter valued at about $274,871,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Hershey during the fourth quarter worth about $272,506,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

About Hershey

The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) is a global confectionery and snack food company headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Founded by Milton S. Hershey in 1894, the company began as a chocolate manufacturer and has grown into one of the largest producers of confectionery products in North America.

Hershey’s portfolio includes chocolate, candy, gum, mints, protein bars and salty snacks. Its well-known brands include Hershey’s, Reese’s, Kisses, Kit Kat, Jolly Rancher, Twizzlers, Ice Breakers, SkinnyPop and Dot’s.