Royal Bank of Canada Lowers Position in Hershey Company (The) $HSY

Royal Bank of Canada decreased its position in shares of Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY - Free Report) by 1.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,036,456 shares of the company's stock after selling 43,810 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned 1.50% of Hershey worth $631,248,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Hershey by 6.5% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 15,310 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,618,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Hershey by 20.2% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 697 shares of the company's stock worth $116,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new stake in shares of Hershey in the 2nd quarter worth $267,000. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings in shares of Hershey by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 17,927 shares of the company's stock worth $2,975,000 after acquiring an additional 769 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Hershey by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 22,247 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,692,000 after acquiring an additional 1,149 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.96% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $255,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 53,195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,043,150. This trade represents a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company's stock.

Hershey Stock Performance

Shares of Hershey stock opened at $183.53 on Wednesday. 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 52 week low of $161.43 and a 52 week high of $239.48. The firm's 50 day moving average is $179.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $196.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.11.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.03 billion. Hershey had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 28.98%. Hershey's revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Hershey Company will post 8.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Hershey from $220.00 to $208.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Hershey from $220.00 to $200.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Hershey from $215.00 to $180.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Hershey from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Hershey from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $208.28.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.