Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Has $54.93 Million Stake in Hershey Company (The) $HSY

Key Points

• Douglas Lane & Associates LLC reduced its stake in Hershey Company by 1.4%, now owning approximately 330,981 shares valued at $54.93 million.
• Hershey recently reported a quarterly EPS of $1.21, exceeding expectations, and achieved a 26.0% year-over-year revenue growth with a total revenue of $2.61 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.37 per share with a payout ratio of 72.78%, representing an annual yield of 3.0%.

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC cut its holdings in shares of Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY - Free Report) by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 330,981 shares of the company's stock after selling 4,706 shares during the quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC owned 0.16% of Hershey worth $54,926,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in HSY. Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hershey by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 3,019 shares of the company's stock worth $511,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp increased its holdings in shares of Hershey by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 6,236 shares of the company's stock worth $1,056,000 after purchasing an additional 1,039 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Hershey by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 496,771 shares of the company's stock valued at $84,128,000 after acquiring an additional 27,353 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in Hershey in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,950,000. Finally, Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV increased its stake in Hershey by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 19,018 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,267,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. 57.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Hershey from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Hershey from $155.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Hershey from $160.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Hershey from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Hershey from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hershey presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $173.89.

Hershey Price Performance

Hershey stock traded up $7.84 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $193.40. The company had a trading volume of 2,815,262 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,078,363. Hershey Company has a fifty-two week low of $140.13 and a fifty-two week high of $208.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The company has a market cap of $39.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.68, a P/E/G ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.27. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $181.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $171.94.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Hershey had a net margin of 13.54% and a return on equity of 37.36%. Hershey's revenue was up 26.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.27 earnings per share. Hershey has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.809-5.997 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Hershey Company will post 6.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $1.37 per share. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Hershey's payout ratio is 72.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hershey

In other news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 5,000 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $900,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 61,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,037,420. The trade was a 7.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Rohit Grover sold 1,334 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $240,120.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 38,068 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,852,240. This trade represents a 3.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 86,127 shares of company stock worth $15,759,755 in the last three months. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.