Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Buys 13,997 Shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY - Free Report) by 1,263.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,105 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 13,997 shares during the period. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.'s holdings in Hershey were worth $2,816,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of HSY. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Hershey by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,590 shares of the company's stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Hershey by 121.4% in the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,270 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,055,000 after buying an additional 5,632 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of Hershey by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,126 shares of the company's stock valued at $225,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Hershey by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 1,684 shares of the company's stock valued at $337,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the period. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its stake in shares of Hershey by 78.8% in the 3rd quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 14,685 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,938,000 after buying an additional 6,472 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.96% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Hershey from $205.00 to $200.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $213.00 price objective on shares of Hershey in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Hershey from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Hershey from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $235.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Hershey from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $191.00 to $183.00 in a report on Monday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $223.33.

Hershey Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE HSY traded down $0.97 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $187.17. The company had a trading volume of 1,316,440 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,955,410. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $191.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $190.71. The stock has a market cap of $38.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.68, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.34. The Hershey Company has a 52-week low of $178.82 and a 52-week high of $276.88.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.72 billion. Hershey had a net margin of 16.67% and a return on equity of 51.79%. The company's revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that The Hershey Company will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Hershey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a dividend of $1.37 per share. This is an increase from Hershey's previous quarterly dividend of $1.19. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. Hershey's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hershey news, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 453 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.54, for a total transaction of $89,938.62. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,862 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $369,681.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Steven E. Voskuil sold 1,500 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $296,850.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 40,228 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,961,121.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Jennifer Mccalman sold 453 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.54, for a total transaction of $89,938.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,862 shares in the company, valued at approximately $369,681.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,453 shares of company stock valued at $665,534. Insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

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.