Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in Hershey Company (The) $HSY

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 7,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,580,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hershey during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Reflection Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Hershey during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Hershey in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hershey in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Hershey by 123.0% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 165 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on HSY. Evercore raised Hershey from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $255.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Hershey from $212.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Hershey from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. BTIG Research started coverage on shares of Hershey in a research note on Monday, April 13th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Hershey from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hershey currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $217.50.

Insider Transactions at Hershey

In other news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was 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 owned 54,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,485,753.85. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hershey Stock Performance

HSY stock opened at $178.59 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $185.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $198.13. The company has a market capitalization of $36.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.26, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.11. 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 fifty-two week low of $160.07 and a fifty-two week high of $239.48.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) last issued 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 company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Hershey Company will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Dividend Announcement

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

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.