Friedenthal Financial Sells 5,324 Shares of Hershey Company (The) $HSY

Friedenthal Financial trimmed its stake in shares of Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) by 92.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 431 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,324 shares during the period. Friedenthal Financial’s holdings in Hershey were worth $90,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. TrueMark Investments LLC grew its position in Hershey by 40.0% in the 1st quarter. TrueMark Investments LLC now owns 42,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,863,000 after purchasing an additional 12,171 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hershey by 9.6% during the 1st quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 2,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $516,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hershey by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $970,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. OP Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Hershey in the 1st quarter worth $3,182,000. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise grew its holdings in shares of Hershey by 3.5% in the first quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 2,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $564,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on HSY shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Hershey from $247.00 to $227.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Hershey from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Hershey from $212.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Hershey from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Hershey from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hershey presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $217.50.

Hershey Stock Performance

Shares of HSY opened at $176.81 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $198.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Hershey Company has a 52 week low of $160.07 and a 52 week high of $239.48. The stock has a market cap of $35.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.93, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.09.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.03 billion. Hershey had a return on equity of 28.98% and a net margin of 9.12%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Hershey Company will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Hershey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $1.452 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $5.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Hershey’s payout ratio is currently 108.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hershey

In other news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.43, for a total value of $260,145.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 54,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,485,753.85. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hershey Company 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.