Hershey Company (The) $HSY Shares Bought by Strs Ohio

Key Points

• Strs Ohio increased its Hershey stake by 24% in the first quarter, buying 22,594 more shares and bringing its total holdings to 116,784 shares worth about $24.3 million.
• Hershey continues to attract mixed analyst sentiment: several firms trimmed price targets, while Evercore upgraded the stock to outperform. Overall, analysts currently rate HSY as a Hold on average with a $217.50 target price.
• The company posted solid quarterly results, with EPS of $2.35 topping estimates and revenue rising 10.7% year over year to $3.10 billion. Hershey also paid a quarterly dividend of $1.452 per share, implying a 3.2% yield.

Strs Ohio grew its holdings in Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY - Free Report) by 24.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 116,784 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 22,594 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio owned about 0.06% of Hershey worth $24,278,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in HSY. Keybank National Association OH increased its holdings in shares of Hershey by 11.9% in the first quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 15,927 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,311,000 after purchasing an additional 1,691 shares during the last quarter. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Hershey during the first quarter worth $279,000. USS Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in Hershey by 9.4% during the first quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd now owns 33,490 shares of the company's stock worth $6,961,000 after buying an additional 2,882 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its holdings in Hershey by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 29,950 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,226,000 after buying an additional 338 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alley Investment Management Company LLC grew its holdings in Hershey by 83.5% in the 1st quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 65,398 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,596,000 after buying an additional 29,753 shares in the last quarter. 57.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on HSY shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Hershey from $212.00 to $200.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 30th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Hershey from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Hershey from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Evercore raised shares of Hershey from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $255.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Hershey from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $217.50.

Hershey Stock Performance

NYSE HSY opened at $182.20 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $36.96 billion, a PE ratio of 33.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Hershey Company has a twelve month low of $160.07 and a twelve month high of $239.48. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $185.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $198.02.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Hershey had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 28.98%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. Hershey's revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Hershey Company will post 8.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Hershey Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a $1.452 dividend. This represents a $5.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. Hershey's payout ratio is 108.19%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 54,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,485,753.85. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company's stock.

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.

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