Steven Voskuil Sells 1,500 Shares of Hershey (NYSE:HSY) Stock

Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) CFO Steven Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.56, for a total transaction of $269,340.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 55,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,933,079.64. This represents a 2.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Hershey Stock Performance

Shares of Hershey stock traded down $0.46 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $182.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,374,093 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,772,288. Hershey Company has a one year low of $140.13 and a one year high of $208.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.53. The firm has a market cap of $37.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.24. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $183.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.69.

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. The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.11 billion. Hershey had a return on equity of 37.36% and a net margin of 13.54%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.34 EPS. Hershey has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.900-6.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Hershey Company will post 6.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Hershey Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a dividend of $1.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Hershey’s payout ratio is 81.91%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hershey

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in Hershey during the second quarter worth $224,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Hershey in the 1st quarter valued at about $55,269,000. Harvest Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Hershey by 39.7% during the 1st quarter. Harvest Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,857,000 after purchasing an additional 3,087 shares during the last quarter. Berkshire Asset Management LLC PA raised its holdings in shares of Hershey by 106.1% in the 1st quarter. Berkshire Asset Management LLC PA now owns 145,457 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,745,000 after purchasing an additional 74,894 shares during the period. Finally, Jump Financial LLC lifted its stake in Hershey by 694.5% in the 1st quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 16,264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,782,000 after purchasing an additional 14,217 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HSY has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Hershey from $175.00 to $208.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler raised Hershey from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $167.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Hershey from $155.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Hershey from $195.00 to $185.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Hershey from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $179.05.

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.