Raymond James & Associates Has $19.08 Million Position in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Raymond James & Associates cut its holdings in The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY - Free Report) by 10.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 102,337 shares of the company's stock after selling 12,311 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned about 0.05% of Hershey worth $19,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Hershey by 1.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,911,173 shares of the company's stock worth $2,983,427,000 after purchasing an additional 222,960 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Hershey by 1.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,144,337 shares of the company's stock worth $1,783,941,000 after purchasing an additional 111,357 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Hershey by 9.1% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,489,322 shares of the company's stock worth $886,746,000 after purchasing an additional 290,920 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Hershey by 57.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,648,666 shares of the company's stock worth $613,352,000 after purchasing an additional 964,019 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Hershey by 143.7% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,465,403 shares of the company's stock worth $496,039,000 after purchasing an additional 1,453,819 shares in the last quarter. 57.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. BNP Paribas cut shares of Hershey from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $208.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Bank of America cut shares of Hershey from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $250.00 to $200.00 in a report on Friday, December 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $213.00 price objective on shares of Hershey in a report on Friday, March 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Hershey from $185.00 to $193.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Hershey in a report on Friday, December 8th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $205.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $225.48.

Hershey Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE HSY traded up $2.28 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $200.55. The company had a trading volume of 1,991,491 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,064,525. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $193.60 and a 200 day moving average of $192.37. The Hershey Company has a 1-year low of $178.82 and a 1-year high of $276.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.34.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.07. Hershey had a net margin of 16.67% and a return on equity of 51.79%. The company had revenue of $2.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.02 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Hershey Company will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $1.37 per share. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. This is an increase from Hershey's previous quarterly dividend of $1.19. Hershey's payout ratio is 60.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Charles R. Raup sold 2,065 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.85, for a total transaction of $396,170.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 14,770 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,833,624.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 453 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.54, for a total value of $89,938.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,862 shares of the company's stock, valued at $369,681.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Charles R. Raup sold 2,065 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.85, for a total value of $396,170.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 14,770 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,833,624.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 5,518 shares of company stock worth $1,066,414. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hershey 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.