TD Asset Management Inc Sells 41,433 Shares of Hershey Company (The) $HSY

Key Points

• TD Asset Management reduced its Hershey stake by 15.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 41,433 shares and leaving it with 220,465 shares valued at about $40.1 million.
• Wall Street remains mixed on Hershey: analysts have a Hold consensus rating, with an average price target of $218.06 even as some firms recently raised or cut their targets.
• Hershey posted a stronger-than-expected quarter, with EPS of $2.35 and revenue of $3.10 billion, and it also declared a quarterly dividend of $1.452 per share payable June 15.

TD Asset Management Inc trimmed its holdings in Hershey Company (The) (NYSE:HSY - Free Report) by 15.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 220,465 shares of the company's stock after selling 41,433 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc owned about 0.11% of Hershey worth $40,120,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Lido Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hershey by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 9,269 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,730,000 after buying an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hershey by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc. now owns 30,045 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,468,000 after purchasing an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Hershey by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 460 shares of the company's stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Hershey by 33.8% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 63,587 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,591,000 after purchasing an additional 16,047 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Hershey by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,137,082 shares of the company's stock valued at $206,926,000 after purchasing an additional 195,500 shares in the last quarter. 57.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HSY has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Hershey from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $249.00 price target on shares of Hershey in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Hershey from $225.00 to $220.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 4th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Hershey from $230.00 to $208.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $240.00 price target on shares of Hershey in a research report 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $218.06.

Hershey Stock Performance

Shares of HSY stock opened at $184.42 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $37.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.24. Hershey Company has a 52 week low of $160.07 and a 52 week high of $239.48. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $194.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $198.75.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.31. The business 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%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Hershey Company will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Hershey Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a $1.452 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $5.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Hershey's payout ratio is currently 108.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hershey news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.10, for a total value of $291,150.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 57,695 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,198,599.50. The trade was a 2.53% 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 Company Profile

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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