Lipe & Dalton Sells 4,367 Shares of Hershey Company (The) $HSY

Lipe & Dalton decreased its position in Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) by 14.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,656 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,367 shares during the period. Hershey comprises approximately 2.9% of Lipe & Dalton’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Lipe & Dalton’s holdings in Hershey were worth $5,542,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. W Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hershey during the first quarter valued at approximately $222,000. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC bought a new position in Hershey in the first quarter worth $4,120,000. Sageworth Trust Co bought a new position in Hershey in the first quarter worth $244,000. Virginia Wealth Management Group Inc. boosted its stake in Hershey by 1.1% during the first quarter. Virginia Wealth Management Group Inc. now owns 22,268 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,629,000 after buying an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cvfg LLC acquired a new stake in Hershey during the first quarter worth $3,613,000. Institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.43, for a total transaction of $260,145.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 54,695 shares in the company, valued at $9,485,753.85. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HSY. Zacks Research cut shares of Hershey from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Hershey from $247.00 to $227.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Hershey from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Evercore raised shares of Hershey from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $255.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $217.50.

Hershey Stock Down 0.9%

HSY opened at $174.44 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $184.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $197.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.24. Hershey Company has a twelve month low of $160.07 and a twelve month high of $239.48. The firm has a market cap of $35.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.48, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.11.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.03 billion. Hershey had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 28.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Hershey Company will post 8.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

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

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.