Hershey (HSY) Stock Forecast, Price & News

17 Wall Street research analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Hershey in the last year. There are currently 9 hold ratings and 8 buy ratings for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street research analysts is that investors should "hold" HSY shares. A hold rating indicates that analysts believe investors should maintain any existing positions they have in HSY, but not buy additional shares or sell existing shares.
View HSY analyst ratings or view top-rated stocks.

17 brokers have issued 12-month price objectives for Hershey's shares. Their HSY share price forecasts range from $233.00 to $310.00. On average, they expect the company's stock price to reach $262.10 in the next twelve months. This suggests a possible upside of 31.1% from the stock's current price.
View analysts price targets for HSY or view top-rated stocks among Wall Street analysts.

Hershey's stock was trading at $231.57 at the beginning of the year. Since then, HSY stock has decreased by 13.7% and is now trading at $199.93.
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Hershey saw a increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totaling 3,290,000 shares, an increase of 21.4% from the August 15th total of 2,710,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,230,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days.
View Hershey's Short Interest.

The company is scheduled to release its next quarterly earnings announcement on Friday, November 3rd 2023.
View our HSY earnings forecast.

The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July, 27th. The company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.12. The business earned $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Hershey had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 55.74% and a net margin of 16.49%. Hershey's revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.80 EPS.
Read the conference call transcript.

Hershey announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $1.192 per share on Friday, September 15th. This represents a $4.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 17th. This is a boost from the stock's previous quarterly dividend of $1.04.
Read our dividend analysis for HSY.

ETFs with the largest weight of Hershey (NYSE:HSY) stock in their portfolio include Invesco Food & Beverage ETF (PBJ), First Trust Nasdaq Food & Beverage ETF (FTXG), AdvisorShares Focused Equity ETF (CWS), Hennessy Stance ESG Large Cap ETF (STNC), iShares MSCI Water Management Multisector ETF (IWTR), Invesco Dorsey Wright Consumer Staples Momentum ETF (PSL), VictoryShares US Multi-Factor Minimum Volatility ETF (VSMV) and American Customer Satisfaction ETF (ACSI).

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) pays an annual dividend of $4.77 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 2.35%. The company has been increasing its dividend for 14 consecutive years, indicating the company has a strong committment to maintain and grow its dividend. The dividend payout ratio is 54.89%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, HSY will have a dividend payout ratio of 46.49% next year. This indicates that the company will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.
Read our dividend analysis for HSY.

Hershey issued an update on its FY 2023 earnings guidance on Thursday, July, 27th. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $9.46-$9.54 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $9.51. The company issued revenue guidance of $11.25 billion-$11.25 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $11.26 billion.

208 employees have rated Hershey Chief Executive Officer Michele Buck on Glassdoor.com. Michele Buck has an approval rating of 89% among the company's employees.

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some companies that other Hershey investors own include Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Walt Disney (DIS), AT&T (T), NVIDIA (NVDA), Verizon Communications (VZ), Chevron (CVX), Procter & Gamble (PG), Coca-Cola (KO), Walmart (WMT) and Cisco Systems (CSCO).

Hershey trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol "HSY."

Shares of HSY stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include WeBull, Vanguard Brokerage Services, TD Ameritrade, E*TRADE, Robinhood, Fidelity, and Charles Schwab.
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One share of HSY stock can currently be purchased for approximately $199.93.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) has a market capitalization of $40.88 billion and generates $10.42 billion in revenue each year. The company earns $1.64 billion in net income (profit) each year or $8.69 on an earnings per share basis.

The company employs 19,865 workers across the globe.

Hershey's mailing address is 19 East Chocolate Avenue, Hershey PA, 17033. The official website for the company is www.thehersheycompany.com. The company can be reached via phone at (717) 534-4200, via email at investorrelations@hersheys.com, or via fax at 717-534-7873.