Michele Buck Sells 14,251 Shares of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) Stock

The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY – Get Rating) CEO Michele Buck sold 14,251 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.95, for a total transaction of $3,433,778.45. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 153,443 shares in the company, valued at $36,972,090.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Michele Buck also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, February 14th, Michele Buck sold 14,250 shares of Hershey stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.16, for a total transaction of $3,422,280.00.
• On Tuesday, January 17th, Michele Buck sold 14,250 shares of Hershey stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.43, for a total transaction of $3,240,877.50.

Hershey Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE HSY opened at $243.15 on Friday. The Hershey Company has a 1-year low of $201.42 and a 1-year high of $247.20. The company has a market cap of $49.61 billion, a PE ratio of 30.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The company has a 50-day moving average of $232.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $230.18.

Hershey (NYSE:HSY – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.25. Hershey had a net margin of 15.79% and a return on equity of 57.76%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Hershey Company will post 9.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hershey Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $1.036 per share. This represents a $4.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 16th. Hershey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HSY has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Hershey from $231.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Credit Suisse Group boosted their price target on shares of Hershey from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Hershey from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Hershey from $255.00 to $277.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Hershey from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $245.23.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hershey

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hershey by 1.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,528,326 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,203,060,000 after buying an additional 245,084 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hershey by 3.4% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 14,486,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,193,800,000 after buying an additional 473,552 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Hershey by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,199,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,587,354,000 after buying an additional 18,326 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Hershey by 20.0% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,671,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $789,931,000 after buying an additional 611,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Hershey by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,198,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $740,848,000 after buying an additional 41,542 shares during the last quarter. 54.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Hershey

(Get Rating)

The Hershey Co engages in the manufacture and marketing of chocolate, sweets, mints and confectionery products. The firm operates through the following geographical segments: North America and International and Other. The North America is responsible for the traditional chocolate and non-chocolate confectionery market position of the company, as well as its grocery and snacks market positions, in the United States and Canada.