Hershey (HSY) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) is a global confectionery and snack food manufacturer headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Founded by Milton S. Hershey in 1894, the company began as a chocolate producer and has grown into one of the largest branded snack businesses in North America.

Hershey’s portfolio includes chocolate, non-chocolate confectionery, gum and mints, and salty snacks. Its brands include Hershey’s, Reese’s, Hershey’s Kisses, Kit Kat in the United States under license from Nestlé, Jolly Rancher, Twizzlers, Ice Breakers, SkinnyPop and Dot’s Pretzels. The company sells products through retail, convenience, grocery, mass merchandise, e-commerce and other distribution channels.

Hershey serves consumers in the United States and international markets, with operations and commercial activities extending across North America and selected markets in Latin America, Asia and other regions. The company’s products are sold in numerous countries through a combination of company operations, retail partnerships and licensing arrangements.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $166.50 to $171.41
• 50-Day Range: $157.81 to $189.92
• 52-Week Range: $156.16 to $239.48
• Volume: 2.00 million shs
• Average Volume: 1.54 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $34.41 billion
• P/E Ratio: 22.56
• Dividend Yield: 3.39%
• Price Target: $193.81
• Consensus Rating: Hold

Hershey Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Hershey scored higher than 94% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 5th out of 168 stocks in the consumer staples sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 3.2 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Hold

Consensus Rating

Hershey has received a consensus rating of Hold. The company's average rating score is 2.24, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 7 buy ratings, 17 hold ratings, and 1 sell rating.

Upside Potential

Hershey has a consensus price target of $193.81, representing about 13.2% upside from its current price of $171.24.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Hershey has been the subject of 13 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 11.85%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Hershey are expected to grow by 11.85% in the coming year, from $8.61 to $9.63 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Hershey is 19.37, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 26.99.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Hershey is 19.37, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Consumer Staples sector average P/E ratio of about 26.22.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Hershey has a PEG Ratio of 1.45. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Hershey has a P/B Ratio of 7.49. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

4.39% of the float of Hershey has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Hershey has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 6.51.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Hershey has recently decreased by 1.78%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.

Dividend

• Score: 5.0 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Leadership

Hershey is a leading dividend payer. It pays a dividend yield of 3.51%, putting its dividend yield in the top 25% of dividend-paying stocks.

Dividend Growth

Hershey has been increasing its dividend for 15 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Hershey is 65.72%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Hershey will have a dividend payout ratio of 60.33% next year. This indicates that Hershey will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.2 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.18

News Sentiment

Hershey has a news sentiment score of 0.18. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a lower news sentiment than the 0.59 average news sentiment score of Consumer Staples companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 52 news articles for Hershey this week, compared to 9 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

28 people have searched for HSY on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 40% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

14 people have added Hershey to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 180% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 0.7 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Hershey insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

0.08% of the stock of Hershey is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

57.96% of the stock of Hershey is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Record date for 9/15 Dividend: 8/14/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 9/15 Dividend: 8/14/2026
• Dividend Payable: 9/15/2026
• Last Earnings: 10/29/2026
• Today: 11/02/2026
• Record date for 12/15 Dividend: 11/16/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 12/15 Dividend: 11/16/2026
• Dividend Payable: 12/15/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Consumer Staples
• Industry: Food Products
• Sub-Industry: Packaged Foods & Meats
• Current Symbol: NYSE:HSY
• CIK: 47111
• Web: www.thehersheycompany.com
• Phone: (717) 534-4200
• Fax: 717-534-7873
• Employees: 19,595
• Year Founded: 1894

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Hershey: $193.81
• High Price Target: $260.00
• Low Price Target: $160.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +13.2%
• Consensus Rating: Hold
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.24
• Research Coverage: 25 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $8.84
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 22.56
• Forward P/E Ratio: 17.78
• P/E Growth: 1.37
• Net Income: $883.26 million
• Net Margins: 12.24%
• Pretax Margin: 15.80%
• Return on Equity: 31.92%
• Return on Assets: 10.71%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.03
• Current Ratio: 1.18
• Quick Ratio: 0.66

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $11.69 billion
• Price / Sales: 2.94
• Cash Flow: $9.21 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 18.59
• Book Value: $22.86 per share
• Price / Book: 7.49

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 200,930,000
• Free Float: 200,765,000
• Market Cap: $34.41 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.10