Lipe & Dalton Has $5.51 Million Stock Position in Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY)

Lipe & Dalton boosted its position in shares of Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY - Free Report) by 390.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,220 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 25,653 shares during the period. Hershey makes up approximately 3.1% of Lipe & Dalton's holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Lipe & Dalton's holdings in Hershey were worth $5,511,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HSY. Montag & Caldwell LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hershey in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hershey in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Hershey in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hershey in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Proffitt & Goodson Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Hershey in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 57.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HSY has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on Hershey from $173.00 to $165.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Hershey from $147.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho reduced their target price on Hershey from $167.00 to $155.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Hershey from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Hershey from $183.00 to $177.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hershey has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $158.84.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP James Turoff sold 1,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $227,500.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 25,321 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,431,175. This trade represents a 4.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 974 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.11, for a total value of $153,025.14. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,994 shares in the company, valued at $470,387.34. The trade was a 24.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 54,107 shares of company stock worth $9,008,118. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hershey Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of HSY stock traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $171.26. The company had a trading volume of 2,394,123 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,813,414. The company has a 50 day moving average of $165.40 and a 200 day moving average of $164.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $34.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.12, a P/E/G ratio of 6.40 and a beta of 0.30. Hershey Company has a 1-year low of $140.13 and a 1-year high of $208.03.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.81 billion. Hershey had a return on equity of 38.70% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.07 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Hershey Company will post 6.12 EPS for the current year.

Hershey Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a dividend of $1.37 per share. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. Hershey's payout ratio is presently 67.57%.

Hershey Company Profile

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.