Woodstock Corp Grows Stock Position in Hershey Company (The) $HSY

Woodstock Corp grew its stake in shares of Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY) by 15.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,856 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,794 shares during the quarter. Woodstock Corp’s holdings in Hershey were worth $3,901,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Hershey in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $234,386,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Hershey during the 2nd quarter valued at $125,868,000. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Hershey by 25.4% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,753,077 shares of the company’s stock worth $470,858,000 after acquiring an additional 557,056 shares in the last quarter. Scharf Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hershey in the 2nd quarter worth about $90,588,000. Finally, Equity Investment Corp bought a new stake in shares of Hershey in the 2nd quarter worth about $73,706,000. 57.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on HSY. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Hershey in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. They set a “hold” rating and a $181.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Hershey from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $195.00 to $211.00 in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Hershey from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $170.00 to $222.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Hershey from $187.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised Hershey from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $184.16.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kirk Tanner acquired 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $185.46 per share, for a total transaction of $370,920.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 47,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,876,115.60. The trade was a 4.36% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.56, for a total value of $269,340.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 55,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,933,079.64. The trade was a 2.64% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 6,000 shares of company stock worth $1,103,640. 0.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hershey Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HSY opened at $187.78 on Wednesday. Hershey Company has a 12-month low of $140.13 and a 12-month high of $199.00. The company has a market cap of $38.08 billion, a PE ratio of 28.07 and a beta of 0.19. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $181.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $179.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

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. Hershey had a return on equity of 32.08% and a net margin of 11.84%.The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.34 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Hershey has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.900-6.000 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Hershey Company will post 6.12 EPS for the current year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th were paid a dividend of $1.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.91%.

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.